Reporter suffers broken leg during Iowa State court-storming

AMES — Iowa State's comeback win over Iowa Thursday night sent Hilton Coliseum into a frenzy, and a Des Moines Register reporter was injured as fans rushed the floor.

Randy Peterson, who covers the Cyclones for the Register, suffered an apparent compound leg fracture after No. 2 ISU's 83-82 win.

Appears to be compound leg fracture for Randy Peterson, per Jamie Pollard.December 11, 2015

Appears to be compound leg fracture for Randy Peterson, per Jamie Pollard.

— Chad Leistikow (@ChadLeistikow)

December 11, 2015

@RandyPete update. Both tibia and fibula fractured. Surgery tomorrow.

— Rick Brown (@ByRickBrown)

Update: December 11, 2015

Update: @RandyPete surgery moved up. Set shortly before midnight.

— Rick Brown (@ByRickBrown)

About an hour after the game, Peterson followed up with a likely understated four-character tweet.

OuchDecember 11, 2015

Ouch

— Randy Peterson (@RandyPete)

Iowa State athletics director Jamie Pollard released a statement Thursday night.

"In fairness, we still do not know exactly what happened," Pollard said. "However, at this point our thoughts are focused on Randy and his wife Patty, who is battling cancer. He is our beat reporter and Patty and he are both very good friends of our program.

"Coach (Steve) Prohm and I have both personally spoken with Randy and have assured him we will do whatever we can to help them both through what they are dealing with."

Register editor Amalie Nash also released a statement.

"Foremost, our concern is with randy, who is a beloved member of our staff and one of the hardest-working journalists in the profession," Nash said. "Beyond that, we want to get a better understanding of what transpired, what security was in place and how to prevent something like this from happening again."

Video via Business Insider

Court-storming has become a topic of national debate in recent years and this incident will undoubtedly reignite the discussion.

Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby publicy reprimanded Kansas State last February after its fans rushed the court and ran into Kansas' Jamari Taylor and coach Bill Self.

Then in May, Bowlsby was given authority in a new sportsmanship policy to fine schools or even force them to lose future home games for such actions.

"Any failure by the institution to safely get a visiting team and officials off the field will result in a review by our office," Bowlsby said at the time.