By KEVIN McNAMARA
PROVIDENCE - Keno Davis grew up going to basketball games and has coached at the collegiate level since 1995. He's seen a lot of things but never what he saw last night early in the second half of PC's 91-82 loss to Marquette.
With 17:15 left, Jeff Xavier drove to the hoop and was scraped in the face. No foul was called and Geoff McDermott scooped up the loose ball and was fouled by Joseph Fulce.
Xavier rolled on the court in pain, holding his right eye and continually kicking his legs as trainers rushed to his aid. Xavier made it to the PC bench but as McDermott waited to take his free throws, a man brazenly walked onto the floor and up to referee Todd Williams. The man was later identified by Dunkin' Donuts Center general manager Larry Lepore as Jonathan Xavier, a brother of Jeff Xavier. The man began to yell at the referee but never touched him before security guards finally grabbed him and pulled him off the floor. Lepore said Jonathan Xavier was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct.
PC's Davis, as well as Marquette coach Buzz Williams, could not believe their eyes.
``Scary,'' said Williams. ``I've never seen anything like that. I just wanted to pull my team off the court and get them away from that.''
Davis was equally amazed. ``I've seen some interesting things,'' he said. ``I've been going to games since I was born so I've seen some really unusual things but that one probably doesn't even make the list.''
Players from both teams were remarkably unfazed. Marquette senior Jerel McNeal said he's seen fans walk onto the floor in high school games back home in Chicago. PC guard Marshon Brooks replaced Xavier in the Friar lineup and while he said he wasn't sure what was going on, he said he knows Jonathan Xavier. ``I know him. I wasn't scared. He thought that his brother got fouled, I guess. He wanted to get an explanation.''
Davis said he was concerned about his team's safety and is hoping that The Dunk's security force can be improved. ``I'm sure that the staff here at the Dunk will work to be better prepared,'' he said. ``Just like we go through a game, you try to get better for the next time. We've got to make sure that we increase the security and how are they going to handle things (in the future). It's just unique.''
Jeff Xavier's status for PC's game against Cincinnati on Monday night is unclear. He did not return to the game last night and was sorely missed.
``I haven't talked to our trainer but his eye was completely closed in the locker room,'' said Davis. ``It looked like he had been in a fight. I don't believe there was a foul called on that play. It was that type of scrappy contest where guys were fighting as hard as they could.''
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I've been to a lot of college games and have never seen anything like this. Where was the security? Will it take someone getting hurt before they take the security aspect seriously? You wouldn't see that at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee.
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The security at the Dunkin Donuts Center for PC games is a joke. Larry Lepore and his security team are a bunch of clowns. There is no way Jeff Xavier's brother should be able to get onto the court like that. Then the DDC security team handles the guy with kid gloves. What kind of message does that send others that might think of doing something similar?
This is not the first time there has been an embarassing incident. The DDC could not even keep the URI Ram mascot safe last year as he was assaulted. Four years ago there was a near riot at the end of the Texas game. When will the DDC get its act together?
It might be time to start thinking about ending beer sales for PC games. I think it contributes to a dangerous atmosphere. Besides, should alcohol even be served at a college sports event? Think about it - most all the students are under age and can't drink legally. Why then are they serving alcohol at a school event? With all the problems PC has in its immdeiate neighborhood with drunk students, the last thing you would think it wants is problems with drinking at its basketball games.
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Please TJ, so are we going to stop selling beer at every sporting event? Why not go back to prohibition? This is an isolated incident, sad yes, but isolated. Should it have been stopped?
Absolutely. But for you to say they should stop selling beer is ridiculous, first off almost all of those students do their damage before they step foot in that arena. And at a place like the dunk and PC, the students and younger are a big time minority.
Your going to tell me as a season ticket holder for years paying over $1000 for my 1 seat that I can't have a beer or two as a responsible adult on a saturday night at 9pm? Please I work too hard to pay for things like those tickets and deserve to be able to relax and enjoy the game with an adult beverage. Not sure if you've had a beverage there but they card everyone even you look like your 80 years old, so there's many other places that are hell of alot easier to get a drink as an underage person at the dunk. Oh and FYI person that went on the court, is of legal drinking age. I'm not condoning it by any means but dont' you think there's a chance that alcohol didn't play a role in him being upset about his brother getting seriously hurt? Again i think it's wrong and security should have def stopped it, but don't blame this on their being beer at the game.
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