Rushing the court is a time-honored tradition that college basketball fans have been taking part in for years and years. But on Saturday, one college basketball team lost a game because — or at least, largely because — their fans stormed the court.
St. Bonaventure’s Matt Mobley hit a three with 0.4 seconds left to give the Bonnies a 66-65 lead over the VCU Rams. Note, that’s a lead, not a win. There were still 0.4 seconds left.
However, the Bonnies’ fans in attendance at Reilly Arena thought the game was over, and stormed the court. The Bonnies were then issued a technical foul for “delay of game” due to the fans rushing the court.
Here’s video of the crazy scene:
WOW! @BonniesMBB drills a three with .4 left. The fans storm the court, a technical foul is called. Now we're in OT. https://t.co/rQy1tTc835
— CBS Sports Network (@CBSSportsNet) February 4, 2017
As the Olean Times Herald’s J.P. Butler noted, the buzzer had gone off before the students stormed the court:
Me, I still want to know why clock was drained from .4 to :0.0 without ball being inbounded. When red light went on, students came out.
— J.P. Butler (@JPbutler10) February 5, 2017
Regardless, the technical foul was still called, and VCU was able to force overtime with a made free throw thanks to the technical foul. And in overtime, VCU went on to win the game by the score of 83-77.
When St. Bonaventure head coach Mark Schmidt was asked after the game about the way his team lost, he called it a “travesty.” However, Schmidt didn’t blame the students for what happened:
https://twitter.com/BV_Sports/status/828033289688645632?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
An incredibly unfortunate, heartbreaking loss for St. Bonaventure, and especially with it coming to a team they’re chasing in the Atlantic 10 Conference. VCU remains tied for first place at 8-2 in the conference, while the loss puts St. Bonaventure at 6-4 and tied for fifth place.
Simple concept to these idiot college students (and this applies to any college, really):
Stay. Off. The. Damn. Court.
You’re welcome.