Bryant Wins First NEC Title, But Fight In Stands Delays Win Over Wagner
BOSTON (CBS) -- The Bryant Bulldogs punched their ticket to March Madness on Tuesday night. But first, there was a whole lot of madness in the stands that delayed Bryant's victory.
Late in Bryant's 70-43 win over Wagner in Smithfield, Rhode Island, which captured the program's first Northeast Conference tournament championship, a pretty big fight broke out among fans in the stands. The melee broke out between a group of Wagner fans and the Bryant student's section with 4:37 left in the game and Bryant up 68-32.
No players got involved in the fracas, but several had to be restrained and one Wagner player was ejected for attempting to jump into the fray. The incident delayed the game for nearly 30 minutes.
After tempers cooled and the scene was cleared, Bryant put the finishing touches on its victory to clinch its first NCAA Tournament berth at the Division I level. The Bulldogs went 22-9 to set a program record for wins in a season.
Peter Kiss, the nation's leading scorer, had a game-high 34 points for the Bulldogs.
