Anthony Farris
Videos by OutKick
On Tuesday evening, March Madness shifted from the hardwood to the stands, delaying a conference championship for roughly 30 minutes. Rather than watch either the Wagner Seahawks or the Bryant Bulldogs punch their ticket to the NCAA Tournament, fans decided to do the punching themselves.
With just under five minutes remaining in the Northeast Conference Championship Game, fans from both teams seated near the Wagner bench began throwing fists, drinks, and insults at one another, causing the on-court action to stop temporarily.
In the event you’re not a degenerate gambler who was watching the storied NEC Championship Game, video of the March melee can be seen below.
— No Context College Basketball (@ContextFreeCBB) March 9, 2022
It’s not clear how or why the fight started, but the video does show a young buck in a Kevin Durant Team USA jersey taking a clean shot in the kisser and those around him doing little in response. If anything, it’s a poor imitation of Durant, who wouldn’t dare enter a battle without at least two or three highly skilled friends to back him up.
Wagner trailed 68-32 when fists began to fly, and though they hadn’t yet put up much of a fight on the court, members of the Seahawks team attempted to mix it up with the fans before being restrained. Wagner’s Will Martinez was the player most aggressively attempting to join the bleacher brawl, leading to his ejection from the game.
After a lengthy delay, play resumed and Bryant eventually walked away with a 70-43 win.
Throw the damn towel!
Follow along on Twitter: @OhioAF
I watched some of this game, and this result does not surprise me at all. I watched about 10 minutes and really stood out how Bryant was a bit chirpy along with their fans. Bryant played great but running your mouth and showing up the Wagner players during the game was not smart. Kiss, who’s a great player, for example stopped and literally did pushups on the court after he made a basket in the first half…as the game continued…and should have gotten a technical. It was bush. Then he stopped and jawed at a Wagner player for 10-15 seconds after a TO another time with no warning, then a Wagner player got tangled on a loose ball and the Bryant player got up like he was going to kick him or throw hands…no ref warnings anywhere. So no wonder it escalated. The refs had no control over the game at any point. It was not pretty so I turned over to watch actual entertaining basketball games.
Jan 6