Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Broken light fixture causes Division II game to end in a tie

Screen Shot 2014-02-20 at 11.41.54 AM

A Division II basketball game ended in a tie on Wednesday night.

Javan Wells of Winston-Salem State, a Division II school in North Carolina, put back a missed three to tie the game with 0.3 seconds left on the clock. On the ensuing in-bounds, Joshua Linton of Johnson C. Smith fired a full-court shot that drilled a light fixture in the gym.

“It wasn’t about it being dark,” Winston-Salem State coach Bobby Collins told ESPN shortly after the game. “The lightbulbs were knocked out of the socket and hanging by a safety chain.”

“We didn’t know how long the chains would last,” assistant coach Mark Sherill said. “The Winston-Salem coach agreed it didn’t look safe. I’ve been in basketball a long time; this is the first time I’ve ever had a draw.”

Broken light at Brayboy pic.twitter.com/O4hSWzeBYL

— John Dell (@johndellWSJ) February 20, 2014

Calling the game a tie was the right decision. If that light fixture landed on the head of one of the players during the overtime period, it would not have been a good thing.

The teams are decision whether or not to try to play the overtime at a neutral location.