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Fairleigh Dickinson-LIU basketball game delayed after players get stuck in elevator

Thirteen FDU players found themselves in a unique situation

sean leahy
Contributing writer
·2 min read
Fairleigh Dickinson-LIU basketball game delayed after players get stuck in elevator

Fairleigh Dickinson's game at Long Island University got off to a late start on Thursday thanks to a malfunctioning elevator.

Thirteen FDU players had to be rescued by New York City firefighters from an elevator that takes players to the court from the locker room inside Steinberg Wellness Center in Brooklyn.

The elevator began descending and suddenly stopped and the lights inside the carriage went out.

"The lights went off and we were just like, 'Oh, no,'" junior forward Ansley Almonor told ESPN's Myron Medcalf after the 84-82 overtime win. "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."

After everyone calmed down, they found the emergency button and 10 minutes later firefighters arrived to save the day.

The game was delayed by approximately 17 minutes and once the FDU players were out and on the gym floor they were given extra time to warmup by the game officials.

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

Almonor would finish with 19 points and nine rebounds and reach the 1,000th-point mark of his career.