New Mexico State Basketball Players Suspended After Post-Game Brawl with Fans
As KSL noted in its report, things got ugly at the conclusion of a basketball game between Utah Valley and New Mexico State.
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Now, two of the players involved in the tussle have been suspended:
The Western Athletic Conference has suspended New Mexico State’s K.C. Ross-Miller for two games and Renaldo Dixon for one game following their involvement in a postgame brawl between the Aggies and Utah Valley on Thursday night.
The WAC announced the suspensions for violating the conference’s sportsmanship policy Friday evening. New Mexico State had suspended Ross-Miller on Friday morning, hours after he touched off the brawl by hurling the ball at Utah Valley’s Holton Hunsaker as time expired in the Wolverines’ 66-61 overtime victory in Orem, Utah.
Ross-Miller picked up the ball at midcourt and fired it at Hunsaker — who is Utah Valley coach Dick Hunsaker’s son — from close range, hitting him in the leg.
“There obviously is no place in the Western Athletic Conference or intercollegiate athletics as a whole for the unfortunate events that took place at the conclusion of Thursday night’s game,” commissioner Jeff Hurd said.
The win gave Utah Valley (17-10, 11-3) the inside track to the WAC regular-season title over New Mexico State (21-9, 10-3), and fans stormed the court at game’s end.
In the ensuing chaos, at least one New Mexico State player threw a punch. The video stream on Utah Valley’s website showed the player to be junior guard DK Eldridge. Staff also forcefully pulled the Aggies’ Daniel Mullings away from the melee.
“While the suspensions handed down are appropriate for the actions of the involved student-athletes, there will be a continued review of other incidents that occurred as a result of fans rushing the court,” Hurd said. “There are obvious safety and security issues that need to be addressed, and I also have requested additional games management information from Utah Valley University.”
Ross-Miller will miss Saturday’s game at Cal State Bakersfield and Thursday’s game against Grand Canyon. Dixon will miss the Bakersfield game.
