Rider-Siena fight results in one coach going through an imaginary handshake line

For one of the most bizarre games of the 2016-17 college basketball season, we turn our attention to Rider vs. Siena Tuesday night in Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference play.

For starters, the two teams began playing the game with a 35 second shot clock, not a 30 second one per the rule change that was instituted at the start of last season.

The two teams played a back-and-forth first half before Siena went on a 15-0 run in the opening minutes after halftime to seize a 63-49 advantage they would never relinquish.

Things got testy with 2:03 to play when a fight broke out involving Siena’s Marquis Wright and Rider’s Anthony Durham. Siena coach Jimmy Patsos and Rider coach Kevin Baggett then got into it, with Baggett ultimately attempting to walk into the Saints’ huddle and having to be forcibly restrained by his assistants.

The two players were ejected from the game and the two coaches were each dealt technical fouls.

With 10 seconds remaining in the game, Baggett called a timeout where it seems as though he instructed his players to walk off the court at the end of the game without shaking hands. The Bronco players followed their orders after the horn sounded, signifying a 78-68 Siena win.

The home crowd was not too pleased.

None of this stopped Patsos from sticking to his own postgame handshake protocol.

The MAAC is no stranger to conference beef, as this skirmish comes almost one year to the day that Iona and Monmouth got into it at the end of a nationally televised Friday night game.