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 because they got stuck in an elevator at the Steinberg Wellness Center in Brooklyn while going from the court to the locker room before the game.
Ansley Almonor, a junior center for Fairleigh Dickinson, said he and some of his teammates had taken an elevator before the game. Everything seemed normal after they pressed the button to go down a few floors until the elevator suddenly stopped. And then it became night.
“The lights went out and we were like, 'Oh, no,'” said Almonor, who finished with 19 points and nine rebounds in his team's 84-82 win at LIU. “We were trying to push the button and the button lights wouldn't come on. It was crazy. One of my teammates was there with me, he was claustrophobic. He panicked a little bit, but for me, it was like that.” “It's nothing that bad. It was just hot. It was very, very hot. We were sweating in there.”
Once everyone regained their composure, they shouted for help and even called out to a teammate. But then they located the emergency button in the elevator and were told that help would be arriving soon. Almonor said they just talked and laughed about the wild moment until New York City firefighters arrived about 10 minutes later.
“It was a relief to see the doors finally open and see them helping us out of the elevator,” he said.
As a result of the pregame mishap, game officials gave FDU additional time for warmups. So, FDU won the game.
For Almonor, it was a memorable night even without the elevator nightmare. The junior, who helped his team defeat top-seeded Purdue in the NCAA tournament last year, scored his 1,000th career point in his team's victory Thursday.
But that's not the only reason he said he'll always remember that game.
“It's probably one of the three most memorable nights of my career,” he said. “This is up there. This is a fun, fun, fun time. I'll never forget it.”
