We got another reason fans shouldn't storm the court in VCU's 83-77 overtime victory at St. Bonaventure on Saturday.
Happy St. Bonaventure students and fans poured out of their seats in celebration after thinking the Bonnies had beat VCU 66-65 on a clutch 3-pointer by Matt Mobley in the game's final second.
However, the fans didn't notice that there was still 0.4 seconds remaining in the game after Mobley's shot. When VCU attempted the inbound pass with the court filled with jubilant fans officials assessed a technical foul on St. Bonaventure.
VCU's JeQuan Lewis hit the technical free throw to tie the game at 66 and then the Rams pulled away in overtime -- after the court was cleared, of course.
After the game, the Atlantic 10 issued this statement on the final sequence before the overtime period:
The decision to assess a one-shot technical foul for the delay of game at the end of the VCU-St. Bonaventure game was a correct call. The conference office has reviewed the end of the game, and spoken to Atlantic 10 Coordinator of Officiating, who verified that it was in fact the correct call.
Having the court storm call verified by the league makes things only more difficult to swallow, especially for the players involved who had no involvement in the assessed technical. An unusual sequence out of the Atlantic 10 -- and one that Bonnies fans will certainly remember for the future.