FDU hoops gets stuck in elevator, causing delay

Unusual things can happen behind closed doors. Just ask the Fairleigh Dickinson men’s basketball team.

The Knights’ game against host Long Island University on Thursday night was delayed about 17 minutes because they were stuck in an elevator at Steinberg Wellness Center in Brooklyn while going from the court to the locker room before tipoff.

Ansley Almonor, a junior center for Fairleigh Dickinson, told ESPN’s Myron Medcalf that he and a few of his teammates had hopped into an elevator before the game. Everything seemed normal after they pushed the button to go down a few floors until the elevator suddenly stopped. And then, it got dark.

“The lights went off and we were just like, ‘Oh, no,'” said Almonor, who finished with 19 points and nine rebounds in his team’s 84-82 win at LIU. “We’re trying to press the button and the button lights weren’t coming on. It was crazy. One of my teammates was in there with me, he was claustrophobic. He panicked a little bit, but for me, it wasn’t nothing too bad. It was just getting hot though. It was getting really, really hot. We were sweating in there.”

Once they all regained their composure, they screamed for help and even called a teammate. But then they located the emergency button on the elevator and they were told that help would arrive soon. Almonor said they just talked and laughed about the wild moment until New York City firefighters arrived about 10 minutes later.

“It was relieving to see the doors finally open and see them helping us to get out of the elevator,” he said.

As a result of the pregame mishap, game officials gave FDU extra time for warmups. Then, FDU won the game.

For Almonor, it was a memorable night even without the elevator nightmare. The junior, who helped his team upset top-seed Purdue in the NCAA tournament last year, scored his 1,000th career point in the win.

But that’s not the only reason he said he’ll always remember the game.

“It’s probably a top-three most memorable night of my career,” he said. “This is up there. This is a funny, funny, funny moment. I’ll never forget this one.”