March Madness: Auburn's Chad Baker-Mazara ejected less than 5 minutes into Tigers' upset loss to Yale

Auburn guard Chad Baker-Mazara was ejected from the No. 4 Tigers’ shocking upset loss to No. 13 Yale less than five minutes after it began on Friday.

Baker-Mazara was given a flagrant 2 foul for making contact with Yale’s August Mahoney. As the two players were running up the court as Auburn had the ball, Baker-Mazara appeared to use his right shoulder and arm of his body to hit Mahoney.

Mahoney immediately reacted to the contact. After he did, the play was blown dead with 16:59 to go in the first half and Baker-Mazara was given the flagrant foul after a review.

A flagrant 2 foul is the more serious of the two types of flagrant fouls and equals an automatic ejection for the offending player. A flagrant 1 foul is the most common type of flagrant foul and only includes two free throws and possession of the ball for the other team. A flagrant 2 foul is described as an act that is “brutal, harsh or cruel or dangerous or punishing.”

Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said during an in-game interview that what Baker-Mazara did was "wrong" but that he believed it should have been a flagrant 1.

"What he did was wrong, it should have been a flagrant 1," Pearl said. "To remove him from the game after an entire season of work is something that — obviously going to disrupt us. He's one of our very best players. It was a retaliation. It was because he got hit in the throat on the play before. He shouldn't have retaliated."

Before the interview with Pearl, TNT showed a replay of the play Pearl referenced. Mahoney made contact with Baker-Mazara's upper body with his left arm as the two players ran down the court.

Baker-Mazara is Auburn’s third-leading scorer and averages just over 10 points per game. He came to the Tigers after stints at three schools over the past three seasons. He started his college career at Duquesne before transferring to San Diego State and playing last season at Northwest Florida State College.