A Brawl In The Stands Led To A Lengthy Stoppage In The NEC Title Game And A Section Getting Cleared Out

The NEC Championship Game between Bryant and Wagner didn’t have a whole lot of drama to it — Bryant, playing in front of their home fans in Smithfield, Rhode Island, took a 38-12 lead into halftime and got to a point where an NCAA Tournament berth was inevitable. With 4:37 left in the second half, the Bulldogs had a comfortable 68-32 lead, and could just coast to the final buzzer.

But before the game could reach its conclusion, a fight broke out in the stands that appeared to pit the fans of both teams against one another. While it’s hard to tell what caused tensions to boil over, a section behind the Wagner bench saw fans getting into it with one another.

Fortunately, it does not appear that any players were able to get into the stands, although one player — senior guard Will Martinez (wearing No. 11 in the below video) — urgently tried to get in there. Martinez was eventually ejected.

Following the incident, the game was paused for more than 20 minutes as the section behind the bench was cleared out. Both teams were sent into their respective locker rooms as things were sorted out, and after the section was cleared out and some other fans were tossed, the game eventually resumed. Some fans eventually returned to the section behind the bench, while Bryant’s athletic director told the student section they were not allowed to storm the court after the game ended until Wagner’s players left the floor and they were given a thumbs up.