Fracas, fouls, injury whittle Tide to 3 players
NEW YORK — Minnesota coach Richard Pitino never saw anything like it. Nor had Alabama coach Avery Johnson.
“That was one of the most bizarre things I’ve ever been a part of,” Jordan Murphy said after he scored 19 points and grabbed 14 rebounds to lead No. 14 Minnesota to an 89-84 victory over No. 25 Alabama, which finished the game with just three players in the championship game of the Barclays Center Classic on Saturday.
Nate Mason scored 20 points to lead Minnesota (7-0). Freshman Collin Sexton had 40 points for the 5-1 Crimson Tide while Riley Norris had 13 and Galin Smith added 10.
“We didn’t give up,” Johnson said. “There was no quit in our team.”
The third-ever matchup between the schools was marred by a near brawl involving Minnesota’s Dupree McBrayer and Alabama’s Dazon Ingram in front of the Crimson Tide bench 6:21 into the second half. Just 27 seconds earlier, Mason and Sexton were each assessed technical fouls for talking to each other, and the Golden Gophers senior guard was ejected.
“Obviously, insanity ensued,” Pitino said.
During the fracas, Alabama players Donta Hall, Alex Reese, Daniel Giddens, Avery Johnson Jr. and Herbert Jones came off the bench and were ejected. Ingram, who had four fouls at the time of the scuffle, fouled out.
Nearly 3 minutes after the McBrayer-Ingram incident, Alabama lost John Petty to an ankle injury, according to Johnson, and the Tide ended the game playing just three players.
Leading by 14 with 10:17 left, the Golden Gophers saw their lead trimmed to 83-80 on Sexton’s layup.
No. 11 MIAMI 86, NORTH FLORIDA 65: In Coral Gables, Fla., Bruce Brown and Anthony Lawrence scored 14 points each to lead the Hurricanes (5-0). JT Escobar scored 16 points for the Ospreys (1-7).
BOISE STATE 68, LOYOLA MARYMOUNT 48: In Boise, Idaho, Justinian Jessup had 22 points, Marcus Dickinson and Lexus Williams combined to score 21 of their 26 points in the second half and the Broncos (4-1) beat the Lions (3-2).
UTAH STATE 77, NEW HAMPSHIRE 63: In Nashville, Tenn., Sam Merrill scored 20 points, DeAngelo Isby added 16 and Utah State (4-3) defeated New Hampshire 77-63 on Saturday.
DALLAS BAPTIST 83, ENMU 69: In Austin, Texas, Boy Van Vliet scored 23 points and Dallas Baptist (6-0) shot 53 percent from the field in defeating Eastern New Mexico (3-3). Shawn Shelton scsored 13 points to lead the Greyhounds.
Women
ARKANSAS 69, NMSU 60: In El Paso, Malica Monk scored 22 points and Arkansas (4-2) dominated the glass in defeating New Mexico State (2-4) on the final day of the UTEP Thanksgiving Classic.
Gia Pack’s 17 points led the Aggies, and Brooke Salas had 15 points and 10 rebounds. But the Aggies were outrebounded 55-41 and shot only 34 percent for the game.
NMSU plays again this coming Saturday, hosting New Mexico. The Lobos won the first matchup 86-75 at UNM.
ENMU 77, TEXAS A&M INT’L 56: In Canyon Texas, senior guard Jasmine Hotchkins had a careerhigh 18 points as Eastern New Mexico won its third straight game after an 0-2 start. The Dustdevils fell to 0-7.