The SWAC regular season finale for Texas Southern and Southern was called midway through the second half Saturday after a fight broke out between the two teams.
The game was called with Southern leading 51-49 with 12:36 left in regulation after a what was described as a bench-clearing brawl.
As a result, Texas Southern and Southern split the regular season championship. Texas Southern, however, will enter the SWAC Tournament as the No. 1 seed.
While there is no official word on what started the fight, witnesses at the game told HBCU Sports that a hard foul on a Southern player prompted the scuffle.
“A Southern player was fouled hard and tempers flared,” said Fred Batiste, a fan who watched the fight unfold. “Two TSU players ran off the bench and the donnybrook took place.”
Here is how Southern head coach Sandy Pugh described the fight to the Advocate.
I’ve been involved with basketball for 30+ years and I’ve never seen anything like it,” Southern coach Sandy Pugh said. “It’s an embarrassment.”
It all started when TSU’s Miracle Davis took a charge underneath the TSU basket, according to the newspaper.
“I just saw two kids standing up looking at each other and someone else push and yell,” Pugh said. “My first reaction is to tell everyone to stay on the bench. But I look up and TSU has two kids running in.
“One of their kids throws the first punch and one of our kids was on the ground and someone was just pounding her. Next thing I know, it was a melee.”
Texas Southern head coach Johnetta Hayes-Perry attempted to describe what she saw.
“It was very undisciplined by both teams and fans on the sideline,” Hayes-Perry said. “I thought after the charge both players were trying to get up, but another player pushed them and that is all I could see.”
Any penalties or suspensions resulting from the altercation will be announced by the SWAC prior to the start of the conference tournament.
“At Texas Southern University we hold our student-athletes to high standards in regards to sportsmanship and personal conduct,” said TSU athletic director Charles McClelland.
“I haven’t reviewed the film as much as I’d like, but my initial response is that there was a significant show of and attempt at restraint on the part of our bench as the melee unfolded, athletic director William Broussard said in a statement. “At a certain point it’s difficult to distinguish whether or not we interacted out of aggression or to defend teammates as Texas Southern’s gameday staff and security personnel attempted to respond.
“Regardless, it was an unfortunate end to what was shaping up to be a fantastic ending to the conference season and I know Coach [Sandy] Pugh feels the same.”
that’s a flat out lie~~Southern slammed one of our ladies to the floor she got up & that same player pushed her again & then another player pushed another one of our ladies & that’s when it went down~~~~the entire game those girls were doing flagrant fouls purposely~~~~it’s sad that this has happened but nobody is going to put this on my LADY TIGERS!
As usual, the Tigers cause trouble. All TSU have are thugs. And unfortunately, a lot of them end up at PV. Look back at several years as all the big fights and who was involved. They even went overseas and get in trouble…the band of all things.
What kind of nonsense is this Ken and Kendrick…I shot the game and was 10 feet from the start..it did not start as described by Coach Pugh…she has an agenda of getting TSU kicked out of of the Tournament…Why is there no comment from the other side? Then u have hearsay from the ESPN article…this is shaky journalism…I’m just curious why u ran a pic of Southern 23 with the story is beyond me…it implies she had role…I have wide angle shots of the mayhem that tell the real story…I wouldn’t let two have access…Ken u need to quit running this crap in ur haste to be relevant
John, if it is indeed “crap” as you put it, you shouldn’t waste your time responding to it in an attempt to be relevant. You should consider making better choices.
So an in-game fight cancels a game that was supposed to decide the women’s SWAC regular season championship and I’m accused of reporting it to be relevant?
If you clicked on the link where it says “the Advocate,” you’d find that the story contains the account of the Texas Southern head coach. But you didn’t do that, I’m assuming.
Look, we don’t have any dog in this fight (no pun intended). We try to provide the most accurate information as possible on all of our stories. If what Pugh said is inaccurate, you need to take that up with her, not us.
You can have a persecution complex about your school all you want, but don’t accuse us of partaking in poor journalism practices when that is clearly not the case.
Learn how journalism works.
Oh, and thanks for reading.
I was I the game and it was as coach Pugh described It! If there is video to prove different why is it NOT posted? You know why? Because it won’t prove different. I am ashamed of both teams. Last nights incident was not called for at all and an embarrassment to the conference. Both teams should not be allowed to play in the tournament. It’s a disgrace. Women acting like animals!!
The article from the Advocate is indeed quite one sided in reference to this incident, and contains several factual inaccuracies. I don’t fault Kenn or Kendrick, per se, as they basically reported what the Advocate ran, but I also see John’s point. That narrative has also been picked up nationally and the story had grown wings and had things added that just didn’t happen.
John I was the 1st to reply & tell the writer of this article that what they wrote is a flat out lie! our LADY TIGERS were taking their pushing along with the referees not even calling them on their behavior the entire 1st half & by the time everything went down our LADIES were Fed up~~now NO I DON’T CONDONE VIOLENCE yet I do know that people can only take so much!
Chandra, I am glad the video is not posted. That way this can be decided where our should be, with the conference, not the court of public opinion. And yes, there is video.
I’m like you s phi s~~i don’t want there to be video out for everyone to view because that is a good way for both universities to be put into a negative light and off of worldstar
We actually reported the fight before any other local or national news outlet did because the incident was brought to our attention via Twitter by those who were at the game.
And we gathered what we could from information provided by both schools and the SWAC via their Twitter accounts.
The only content we used from the Advocate was Pugh’s quotes. We wanted to get TSU’s side of the incident, but there was nothing posted on their website or social media from an official as of late Saturday.
And once we get a hold of video, it will be posted to the story. We actually attempted to post a video that was circulating on Twitter, but the user who filmed the incident removed it..
Regarding the accuracy of the events, that needs to be taken up with Pugh or representatives from either school. If they’re lying, that’s on them.