An Ohio Valley Conference event quarterfinal matchup between Southern Illinois-Edwardsville and Tennessee-Martin on Thursday night time took an unsightly flip after punches had been thrown early on within the recreation, leading to three participant ejections.
UT Martin was main SIUE, 31-27, with simply over 4 minutes remaining within the first quarter when Cougars ahead DeeJuan Pruitt punched Rifen Miguel within the face after the Skyhawks senior appeared to run down the court docket with each arms prolonged over Pruitt.
UT Martin’s Rifen Miguel, left, lunges for SIU-Edwardsville’s DeeJuan Pruitt, proper, within the first half of their recreation for the second spherical of the Ohio Valley Conference at Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana, Thursday night time, March 2, 2023. (Reuters )
A scuffle broke out earlier than gamers and coaches jumped in to separate the gamers.
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The recreation was delayed for 10 minutes earlier than officers ejected Pruitt, Miguel and UT Martin ahead Jalen Myers.
Miguel was additionally seen leaving court docket with a bloodied face.
Rifen Miguel, #23 of the Ohio Bobcats, walks in for the sport towards the Virginia Cavaliers within the first spherical of the 2021 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at Assembly Hall on March 20, 2021 in Bloomington, Indiana. (Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
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“I think when you talk about an array of emotions — we talk about winning looks different every night,” UT Martin head coach Ryan Ridder mentioned, through the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “If you had told me the last two hours would look like this, I wouldn’t have believed you. But at the end of the day, that’s a resilient group that found a way to come out shorthanded and get it done.”
Marquette Golden Eagles ahead Justin Lewis, #10, goes round SIU Edwardsville Cougars ahead DeeJuan Pruitt, #1, throughout a recreation between the Marquette Golden Eagles and the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Cougars on the Fiserv Forum on Nov. 9, 2021 in Milwaukee. (Larry Radloff/Icon Sportswire through Getty Images)
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The Skyhawks defeated SIU-Edwardsville 81-75 to advance to the semifinals on Friday night time the place they are going to play Tennessee Tech.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.