Rider's Anthony Durham, Siena's Marquis Wright each suspended 1 game

ByABC News
January 18, 2017, 5:31 PM

— -- The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference has suspended two players and reprimanded both coaches stemming from an incident in Tuesday night's Siena- Rider?men's basketball game.

MAAC commissioner?Rich Ensor announced the discipline Wednesday, less than 24 hours after an altercation between the teams led to punches, ejections and a bizarre invisible handshake line postgame.?

Rider's Anthony Durham and Siena's Marquis Wright each were suspended one game, per NCAA fighting rules. Both players also must sign the MAAC's sportsmanship statement.

In addition, Rider coach Kevin Baggett and Siena counterpart Jimmy Patsos will be reprimanded for unsportsmanlike behavior and must sign the conference's sportsmanship statement, as well.?

Late in Tuesday's game,?Rider's Norville Carey was called for a foul on an alley-oop pass, and Wright shoved Stevie Jordan to the court near the Siena bench. Durham then appeared to throw a punch at Wright, and Baggett ran the length of the court and screamed at Wright.

Durham and Wright were given flagrant foul 2s and ejected, and technical fouls were called on Siena's Khalil Richard, Jordan and both coaches.

Patsos then improvised when the opposing side ditched the handshake line at game's end, offering invisible handshakes along the sideline.?

Patsos later told ESPN he had no issue with Baggett deciding to take his team off the court before the handshakes, saying he thought the coach had "a pretty good reason" for choosing not to shake hands, adding, "I like Kevin a lot and respect his decision."

Added Baggett: "I decided to not shake hands because I didn't want anything to escalate again between the teams," Baggett told ESPN. "That's my prerogative -- to protect my team whether anyone else thinks it's good sportsmanship or not.

"I knew what I was going to do at the end of the game. I didn't want another altercation."

Information from ESPN's Jeff Goodman and The Associated Press was used in this report.