Eight players involved in the handshake-line brawl between Texas A&M-Commerce and Incarnate Word were suspended by the Southland Conference on Wednesday.
The melee took place after Texas A&M Commerce’s 76-72 overtime win in San Antonio on Monday after something that went on in the handshake line sparked punches being thrown by both sides during a fracas that spilled across the court from the scorer’s table to the opposite stands for more than a minute.
Incarnate Word 76-72 in overtime on Monday night. ESPN
Four players from each club were handed suspensions that began immediately for “flagrant unsportsmanlike actions,” the conference announced after a review of the incident.
Texas A&M-Commerce’s Ant Abraham, Jerome Brewer Jr. and Kwo Agwa and Incarnate Word’s Elijah Davis were all handed three-game suspensions.
Incarnate Word’s Alex Anderson, Gabe Beny Til and Marcus Glover were each docked two games, and Texas A&M-Commerce’s Prince Davies was suspended one game.
“The Southland Conference Board of Directors has set clear expectations for sportsmanship and behavior of our student-athletes, coaches, and spectators during and after competitions,” Southland commissioner Chris Grant said in a statement.
“Unfortunately, these expectations were not met on Monday night, and the Southland Conference will not tolerate any unsportsmanlike behavior. I would like to extend our appreciation to A&M-Commerce Athletics Director Jim Curry and [Incarnate Word] Athletics Director Richard Duran for their unwavering partnership and diligent resolution of this matter.”
Incarnate Word athletic director Richard Duren said in a statement that the school will not challenge the suspensions, while Texas A&M-Commerce had no comment to ESPN about the conference’s punishments.
“We will honor the suspensions handed down effective immediately,” Duren said. “We would like to thank the SLC office for handling this matter in a fair and efficient manner. I appreciate Texas A&M-Commerce’s athletic director Jim Curry for partnering with me throughout the process.”
Both schools called the brawl something with “no place in college sports” in a joint statement
