New Mexico State Basketball Player Lands Wicked Punch Against Liberty, Immediately Gets Ejected

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New Mexico State forward Robert Carpenter didn't appreciate Liberty's Shiloh Robinson bumping into him under the rim, so he reacted by throwing a vicious punch directly at Robinson's face.

Less than nine minutes into New Mexico State's eventual overtime win over Liberty on Thursday night, Carpenter and Robinson met under the rim fighting for position for a rebound. After the basketball hit off the far side of the rim, Robinson turned upcourt and bumped into Carpenter. The quick running into one another seemed innocent, until it wasn't.

Carpenter took exception to Robinson running into him and landed a rather wicked right hook on the Liberty man's dome.

Robinson immediately fell to the floor holding his face before being helped off the court and not returning to the game. Carpenter was immediately ejected from the game after trying to turn the game into a street fight. Both players saw just two minutes of action before exiting the contest for two very different reasons.

New Mexico State head coach Jason Hooten apologized to Liberty during his postgame press conference saying Carpenter's actions are "not acceptable." Hooten was surprised to see Carpenter act out in that sort of way, calling him "a really good kid."

The Aggies' head coach explained that the forward will not play in the team's next game on Saturday while also saying he expects Conference USA to get involved with the matter as well.

Carpenter, who played for Mississippi Valley State a year ago, has started 16 of NMSU's 22 games this season while averaging just shy of 10 points per contest.

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Mark covers all sports at OutKick while keeping a close eye on the world of professional golf. He graduated from the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga before earning his master's degree in journalism from the University of Tennessee. He somehow survived living in Knoxville despite ‘Rocky Top’ being his least favorite song ever written. Before joining OutKick, he wrote for various outlets including SB Nation, The Spun, and BroBible. Mark was also a writer for the Chicago Cubs Double-A affiliate in 2016 when the team won the World Series. He's still waiting for his championship ring to arrive. Follow him on Twitter @itismarkharris.