Watch: Tempers flare at the end of WAC title game between UT Arlington and Grand Canyon

Lawrence Dow
·1 min read
10

UT Arlington fell 89-74 to Grand Canyon University in the WAC Men’s Basketball Tournament championship game on Saturday at Orleans Arena, but it was the emotions on display during the last play of the game that caught social media’s attention.

GCU guard Colin Moore had the ball with the chance to dribble the clock out but instead hit a windmill dunk to cap the victory. This seemed to anger UT Arlington players, one of whom, Phillip Russell, shoulder-checked Moore after the dunk before his fellow Maverick, Akili Vining, threw the ball at Moore while inbounding the ball.

Players from both teams were separated after the ball was thrown and before the incident could escalate. For their actions, Vining and Russell were ejected from the game, as was GCU forward Derrick Michael Xzavierro for leaving the bench.

UT Arlington head coach KT Turner spoke at the postgame news conference about the incident.

“I didn’t see much,” said Turner. “I haven’t seen (the video yet), think I had my head turned, but I’ll see it on the video.”

GCU won its second WAC men’s title in a row and received the conference’s automatic bid for the NCAA Tournament.