This article is more than 7 months old

This article is more than 7 months old

Bitter rivals Kansas and Kansas State ended their college basketball showdown on Tuesday night with a wild melee that included punches, shoving and at least one player picking up a stool.

The fight started when Kansas’s Silvio De Sousa blocked a DaJuan Gordon shot as time expired, sending his opponent to the floor. Kansas were leading 81-59 at the time. De Sousa then stood over Gordon shouting at him. That triggered the benches to empty and punches to be thrown as the fight spilled into a seating section for disabled people in the stands.

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At one point, De Sousa picked up a stool and held it above his head before assistant coach Jerrance Howard grabbed it from him.

It took both coaching staffs, police officers and security to separate the teams. Then, adding to the bizarre finish, both teams were summoned back from the locker rooms by officials and one-tenth of a second was put on the clock. Kansas State shot free throws to booing from the few thousand fans who were still in the arena.

Only five players from each team returned to the court, as the rest had been ejected for their roles in the brawl.

“It’s not something to be proud of,” the Kansas coach, Bill Self, said. “What happened showed zero signs of toughness. It’s a sign of immaturity and selfishness more so than toughness.”

On Wednesday, Self announced De Sousa was suspended indefinitely for his role in the brawl, saying “there is no place in the game for that behavior”.

The school did not reveal a specific length of De Sousa’s suspension or additional punishment for any other player, pending the final outcome of a joint review with the Big 12 Conference.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Kansas won the match at Allen Fieldhouse, 81-60. Photograph: Jay Biggerstaff/USA Today Sports

His Kansas State counterpart, Bruce Weber, took responsibility. “It should have been avoided,” Weber said. “It’s my guys – it’s my fault. They came here wanting to have a game, compete, and we didn’t compete the way we needed to, and probably a little frustration, especially the young guys.’’

The cross-state rivals, who meet twice annually in Big 12 play, meet again on 29 February.