Fight breaks out between No. 17 St. John's and Providence and six players are ejected

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Fight breaks out between No. 17 St. John's and Providence and six players are ejected

2026-02-15 05:57 Last Updated At：06:11

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Six players were ejected from Saturday’s game between No. 17 St. John’s and Providence after a fracas resulting from a hard foul by Friars forward Duncan Powell on Bryce Hopkins sent the Red Storm star crashing to the ground.

St. John’s coach Rick Pitino, who led Providence to the 1987 Final Four, was in the middle of it, trying to hold back his players. But several entered the fray as it drifted toward the Red Storm bench.

“You’re not supposed to come off the bench, but you can’t let your players get beat up,” Pitino said after the 79-69 victory gave the Red Storm its 11th straight win. “You can’t fight. Back when I was the Kentucky coach we fought almost every SEC game, and it was not a big deal. But you can’t fight any more, so toughness has to come between the lines.”

The game was delayed by nearly 20 minutes while the referees sorted out the punishments: Four St. John’s players were booted along with two from Providence, and by the time the Friars got the ball back they had watched a one-point lead turn into a four-point deficit.

“I feel like we responded in the best way possible,” said St. John's forward Zuby Ejiofor, who anticipated a frigid reaction for Hopkins in his first game back since he transferred from Providence. “Coming into this game we knew exactly how rowdy this environment was going to be — not only for him, but for all of us. We knew it was going be tough. You have to have a great mindset to come in here and win, and I think that’s what we did.”

St. John’s led by as many 13 points in the first half, but the Friars rallied in the second to take a series of one-point leads and had a 40-39 edge with 14:25 left when Hopkins — who played three seasons in Providence — went up for a fast-break layup and was raked across the head and face by Powell’s arm, taking him to the ground.

Providence coach Kim English didn't like the foul, either.

“There’s a time to foul hard. There’s a time to foul a poor free throw shooter hard. That’s fouling to not let them get the ball above their head. Fouling their arms. It’s a good, clean basketball play. A good hard foul. You don’t want to give up ‘and ones,’” English said. "He had plenty of opportunity to get in front of him, just playing straight up."

Hopkins, who was booed during warmups and cheered when he missed shots, got up and moved toward Powell but was held back and guided away by his former teammate, Friars forward Oswin Erhunmwunse. Others in the game got involved and the players from the nearby St. John’s bench couldn’t be held back any longer.

The pushing and shoving continued while coaches, referees and security tried to break it up. Referee Nathan Farrell appeared to be favoring one arm the rest of the game.

During the delay, players for both teams warmed up at their baskets. As the refs updated the coaches on their decision, the fans broke into a chant of “Duncan Powell!” and then cheered for Providence guard Jaylin Sellers as he was led down the tunnel to cheers from the crowd.

He was soon joined by Powell. According to a pool report, Powell was ejected for a Flagrant 2 foul and issued a technical foul for fighting and Sellers was ejected for a dead ball flagrant foul; Mitchell was kicked out for a dead ball flagrant technical and the other three Red Storm players were ejected for leaving the bench.

The pool report said the conference will review the game to see if additional penalties are warranted.

Pitino began his postgame media availability by saying with a smile, “We’re getting out of here before the fans beat the coaches up.” And he ended it by joking, “Get me (Big East Commissioner) Val Ackerman on the phone.”

In between, he chastised a reporter for asking Ejiofor about the fight, saying, “We’re not going to address that; let the league address it. If you want to talk basketball, talk basketball. You write what you saw. Don’t ask my players that.”

Hopkins made two free throws, then St. John’s Oziyah Sellers made one of two and followed it with a layup for a five-point play that gave the Red Storm a 44-40 lead. After a Friars miss, St. John’s Dylan Darling hit a 3-pointer for a seven-point lead and the Red Storm were never threatened again.

“I thought we came out really good in the second half,” English said. “And the scrum happened, I thought, at a bad time for us. We got the lead, we’re up 1 ... and then everything else ensues.”

Tensions flared again with five minutes left after a hard foul by Erhunmwunse on Ejiofor. That was ruled a common foul, but Providence fans under the basket got the Red Storm players riled up enough for the referees to step in.

“The crowd lost objectivity of what they’re here for,” Pitino said. “If they’re just here to poke fun at Bryce Hopkins and not get a win for the Friars, that’s not the Friars I remember in '87.”

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Crown prince urges the world to stand with the people of Iran as 250,000 rally in Munich

MUNICH (AP) — About 250,000 people demonstrated on Saturday against Iran's government on the sidelines of a gathering of world leaders in Germany, police said, answering a call from Iran ’s exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi for cranked-up international pressure on Tehran.

Banging drums and chanting for regime change, the giant and boisterous rally in Munich was part of what Pahlavi described as a “global day of action" to support Iranians in the wake of deadly nationwide protests. He also called for demonstrations in Los Angeles and Toronto. Police said in a post on X that the number of protesters reached some 250,000, more than the organizers had expected.

“Change, change, regime change” the huge crowd chanted, waving green-white-and-red flags with lion and sun emblems. Iran used that flag before its 1979 Islamic Revolution that toppled the Pahlavi dynasty.

At a news conference, Pahlavi warned of more deaths in Iran if “democracies stand by and watch" following Iran’s deadly crackdown on protesters last month.

“We gather at an hour of profound peril to ask: Will the world stand with the people of Iran?” he asked. He added that the survival of Iran's government “sends a clear signal to every bully: kill enough people and you stay in power.”

An estimated 350,000 people marched on the streets of Toronto as part of the Global Day of Action Rally, Toronto Police spokesperson Laura Brabant said.

At the Munich rally, demonstrators sported “Make Iran Great Again" red caps, mimicking the MAGA caps worn by U.S. President Donald Trump 's supporters. Among those sporting the caps was U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina who gave a speech to the crowd during which he was photographed holding up the headwear.

Many at the rally waved placards showing Pahlavi, some that called him a king. The son of Iran’s deposed shah has been in exile for nearly 50 years but is trying to position himself as a player in Iran’s future.

The crowd chanted “Pahlavi for Iran,” and “democracy for Iran" as drums and cymbals sounded.

“We have huge hopes and (are) looking forward that the regime is going to change hopefully,” said Daniyal Mohtashamian, a demonstrator who traveled from Zurich, in Switzerland, to speak for protesters inside Iran who faced repression.

“There is an internet blackout, and their voices are not going outside of Iran,” he said.

About 500 protesters also rallied outside the presidential palace in Nicosia, Cyprus, with many holding up banners with slogans against Iran's government and in favor of Pahlavi.

The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency says at least 7,005 people were killed in last month's protests, including 214 government forces. It has been accurate in counting deaths during previous rounds of unrest in Iran and relies on a network of activists inside Iran to verify deaths.

Iran’s government offered its only death toll on Jan. 21, saying 3,117 people were killed. Iran’s theocracy in the past has undercounted or not reported fatalities from past unrest.

The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the death toll, given authorities have disrupted internet access and international calls in Iran.

Iranian leaders are facing renewed pressure from Trump, who has threatened U.S. military action. Trump wants Iran to further scale back its nuclear program. He suggested Friday that regime change in Iran “would be the best thing that could happen."

Iran was also the focus of protests in Munich on Friday, the opening day of an annual security conference in the city gathering European leaders and global security figures. Supporters of the Iranian opposition group People’s Mujahedeen Organization of Iran, also known as the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, demonstrated.

Associated Press writer Cedar Attanasio contributed reporting from Seattle. Associated Press journalists John Leicester in Paris and Geir Moulson in Berlin also contributed.

Fight breaks out between No. 17 St. John's and Providence and six players are ejected

Sport

Fight breaks out between No. 17 St. John's and Providence and six players are ejected

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