Louisiana Tech Played 4-On-5 After Brawl And Mass Ejections

The Louisiana Tech Bulldogs played the final 6:04 of their 79-70 loss to Alabama-Birmingham with just four players, after an on-court brawl resulted in the ejections of most players and all assistant coaches on both teams. (Seriously, I don’t know offhand how many players were ejected—whoever compiled the official box score decided it would be easier just to mention the players who weren’t booted.)

It’s a little tough to see what started all this, but you can make out the Bulldogs’ Jacobi Boykins bumping the back of the Blazers’ Hakeem Baxter as Baxter prepared to take free throws, leading Baxter to respond with a punch.

It was mostly just chaos:

Boykins and Baxter were both ejected for fighting, and they weren’t alone. Per NCAA rules, any player who leaves the bench area during a fight is automatically ejected. All of Lousiana Tech’s bench got involved and were ejected. All but two UAB bench players did the same.

Just for good measure, officials also ejected all assistant coaches and support staffer on both teams. So for the final six minutes, Louisiana Tech’s bench looked like this: head coach Eric Konkol and a trainer.

The Bulldogs dug themselves a hole before the ejections, so a miracle comeback wasn’t in the cards—but, playing 4-on-5, they actually outscored UAB 20-16 over the final 6:04. Making that run even more impressive is that junior guard Omar Sherman played with four fouls—if he had fouled out, Louisiana Tech would have had to forfeit the game.

The game finished without incident, the two coaches— longtime friends, as it happens—apologized to each other, and the 10 players remaining conducted the sport’s shortest handshake line.