By Chad Courrier
Free Press Staff Writer
MANKATO — An emotional, double-overtime men's basketball game at Bresnan Arena between Minnesota State and Nebraska-Omaha continued Saturday with an oncourt altercation involving players and coaches from both teams.
Now it's up to the North Central Conference to determine if any punishment or suspensions will be coming before the start of the conference tournament Tuesday.
"I'm not concerned about (suspensions)," Minnesota State coach Matt Margenthaler said. "I hope (conference officials) look at the tape and see everything that happened. They'll make whatever ruling they have to make."
The problem started shortly after the horn ended Nebraska-Omaha's 90-88 victory in double overtime. Minnesota State guard Andy Moeller threw a desperation shot from just in front of the Nebraska-Omaha bench.
Moeller said that he was frustrated with the loss, and Nebraska-Omaha assistant coach Kenya Crandell jumped in front of him to celebrate in his face.
"I got caught up in the moment," Moeller said. "After a loss like that, I was standing there, frustrated. He was celebrating right in front of me, and I gave him a shove. My fault."
Minnesota State athletic director Kevin Buisman said he saw Crandell return the push, and he tried to get between the two, hoping to get the Nebraska-Omaha team off the court and into the locker room before things turned worse.
"It's our obligation to protect their team and their coaches," Buisman said. "I thought I saw their coach accost Andy, shove him in the chest. I got in between them and told (the coach) that he didn't needs to put his hands on my player. He just kept saying 'who the hell are you, who the hell are you?' I told him, 'I'm the athletic director, get your team off the floor.'
"I was afraid all hell was going to break loose, and I wanted to get everybody separated before someone threw a punch. There's too much at stake to have players and coaches get suspended."
When things seemed to be settling down, with the pack of players and coaches moving toward the Nebraska-Omaha exit, another scuffle broke out. Margenthaler, who was acting as a peacekeeper, said Nebraska-Omaha's Ryan Pace, a reserve player who didn't play in the game, tried to punch him, clipping his jaw.
"I was trying to get guys off the floor," Margenthaler said. "Then the kid took a swing at me, and I lost it. You take a swing at me, I'm going to react."
Alex Anderson, an intern with the NCC office, attended the game and left with a videotape of the game, which may show how things started. He said conference officials would likely review the situation over the weekend and make any decisions after that.
