Saturday’s St John’s-Providence game broke into chaos.
Early in the second half, the Red Storm’s Bryce Hopkins went up for a layup on a fast break when the Friars’ Duncan Powell mauled him at the rim, throwing the latter to the floor.
Hopkins immediately jumped and pushed Powell, sending the game into a frenzy.
Players and coaches from both sides exchanged shoves before officials separated the two sides, while police officers quickly came onto the court to prevent further escalation.
In the aftermath, officials delayed the game roughly 19 minutes while reviewing the play and dolling out punishments.
Powell, who appeared to throw a punch at St John’s Dillon Mitchell after the hard foul, was ejected from the game.
Providence’s Jaylin Sellers was also ejected.
The Red Storm’s Mitchell, Kelvin Odih, Ruben Prey and Lefteris Liotopoulous were tossed for their roles in the brawl.
A Providence fan was also kicked out of the arena for getting involved in the melee, according to the TNT broadcast.
Later in the game, Providence’s Jamier Jones was ejected for pushing St. John’s Zuby Ejiofor on a fast break.
Hopkins, who spent three years at Providence before transferring to St John’s before this season, was making his highly anticipated return to Amica Mutual Pavilion.
Last month, the Friars handed the Johnnies their lone Big East loss at Madison Square Garden.
The Johnnies took a five point lead into halftime and extended that lead late into the second-half.
St. John’s came into the game at 19-4 overall and 12-1 in-conference, which trails only UConn (13-1) in the Big East standings.
Despite their win over the Red Storm last month, Providence has struggled this season, sitting at 11-14 overall and 4-10 in the Big East.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
