The University of Maine men’s basketball team is in the national spotlight for all of the wrong reasons. On February 14, 2017, junior guard Wes Myers punched teammate Marko Pirovic in the face, sending the senior guard to the hospital with a broken jaw. Pirovic had to undergo surgery for two bilateral fractures, and his jaw will be wired shut for six to eight weeks.
After the fight, Maine players tried to cover it up. When a campus police officer came to ask questions, they said that Pirovic fell in the shower. But the next day, the truth came out and campus police were notified of the haymaker Myers threw over a goddamn music dispute of all things. Here’s Deadspin with more details on the incident.
Basketball staff and players later told police that the fight started after Myers told Pirovic to turn off his music in the locker room. Pirovic refused, and Myers tried to forcibly turn it off. At that point, the police report said, the two players started fighting and Myers broke Pirovic’s jaw with one punch. The fight abruptly stopped when they realized that Pirovic was hurt and together Myers, Pirovic, and a few teammates cooked up the story that Pirovic had fallen in the shower to avoid getting in trouble. Pirovic didn’t want to press charges, and in a written statement given to police he said that both players were at fault for an argument that got out of hand, per the Bangor Daily News, who first reported on the fight last night.
So dumb. I don’t care if Pirovic was blasting “Who Let the Dogs Out?” on a constant loop, you can’t pop your own teammate like that. Only Steve Smith Sr. can pull that move. You guys gotta stick together through thick and thin.
Maine players Jaquan McKennon, Dusan Majstorovic, and Ilija Stojilkovic each served one-week suspensions for lying to campus police. Pirovic and Myers have also served one-week suspensions, but there is currently no timetable on when they will return to the court.
