OVC Tournament Game Stopped After Player Lands Haymaker In Opponent's Face

College basketball is turning into must-see TV. Not just for March Madness, but to watch the fights.

In the second major brawl of March, and third bench-clearing fight this past month, punches started flying Thursday night.

SIUE and UT Martin men's basketball were in a tight battle, playing in the 2023 Ohio Valley Conference tournament, when one player's antics backfired.

READ: NASTY COLLEGE BASKETBALL BRAWL CAUSES BENCHES TO CLEAR AND FANS TO FALL, LEADS TO MULTIPLE EJECTIONS

With four minutes left in the first half, UT forward Rifen Miguel tucked his head and kept driving it in SIUE forward DeeJuan Pruitt's face only for Pruitt to swing at Miguel, cleanly landing a haymaker to the face. Both benches retaliated and the scene ended with three player ejections.

Punches Fly Between SIUE, UT Martin

The punch from Pruit left Miguel bloodied in the face and woozy, relayed The St. Louis Post-Dispatch. With UT Martin's four-point lead (31-27) at the time of the altercation, it was possible that Miguel was trying to get in SIUE players' heads.

He promptly learned to pick a new strategy next time.

WATCH:

Rifen Miguel (UT Martin) gets punched in the face by DeeJuan Pruitt (SIUE)

The game was delayed for 10 minutes. Both Pruitt and Miguel were ejected from the game. UT Martin's Jalen Myers was also ejected after swinging at Pruitt in defense of his teammate.

Pruitt exited the game with three points and two rebounds in 14 minutes.

Miguel scored seven points and tallied three rebounds in four minutes. Myers scored two points, adding one rebound, one assist and one steal in eight minutes. 

One thing's for certain entering prime March Madness season, the fights are ramping up.

Wednesday night's fight between Kentucky and Florida women's basketball involved one player throwing a basketball at her opponent's head and an assistant coach getting knocked back by the fighting players. A head coach also lost her heel.