By Mark Bennett
Indiana State Coach Royce Waltman kept his
sense of humor about the hot dog incident that helped lead to
the Sycamores' bizarre 62-60 Missouri Valley Conference basketball
loss to Drake on Tuesday in Hulman Center.
The hot dog was tossed, with its wrapper on,
onto the court when the officials reversed a decision with 19.3
seconds left in the game. As a result, a crowd-control technical
foul was called against the home team -- ISU. Drake got to hit
a tying free throw before getting possession of the ball for
a final shot. Sophomore Luke McDonald hit a baseline jumper with
2.7 seconds left for the win.
Waltman protested the officials' decision
to give the ball to Drake instead of ISU after a missed Sycamore
shot bounced out of bounds. Then a male fan, who was not identified
by ISU officials, tossed the hot dog from the upper seats of
the lower concourse. It hit the court just in front of the Sycamore
bench. ISU officials said he had moved down from the upper concourse.
He was not a student, they said, though they did not give out
his name.
"That happens," Waltman said. "Maybe
if I hadn't been so incensed. I mean, when I get incensed over
a call, that can lead to that. I wish he hadn't thrown it. But
I think that's an awful small blot on our fans' behavior, compared
to how they've dug in and cheered for us through a very rough
season.
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"You can't do that, obviously,"
Waltman added. "But my golly, that's about the only negative
thing fans have done here in four or five years."
A crowd of 4,723 attended Tuesday. According
to Missouri Valley Conference statistics, ISU (with records of
6-19 overall and 4-12 in the MVC) is averaging 4,714 fans for
home games.
Waltman jokingly suggested he might have been
the target.
"You know, it came closest to me,"
he said. "They should've thought through who the thing was
thrown at before they called the technical." Ironically,
Tuesday was Waltman's birthday.
Andi Myers, ISU's athletic director, said
the incident was a first in Hulman Center. The technical was
assessed by the officials without a warning.
"It's usually a warning with an announcement
from the public address person," Myers said.
The PA announcement came after the technical
foul.
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