NEC Championship game paused late after fan brawl behind Wagner bench

Officials paused the NEC Championship game late on Tuesday night after a fight appeared to break out in a student section near the Wagner bench at the Chase Athletic Center in Rhode Island.

With just less than five minutes to go, while top-seeded Bryant held a 36-point lead on its home court, a scuffle broke out behind the Wagner bench. It’s unclear specifically what prompted the issue, but some Wagner players were extremely heated and had to be held back. Fans could be seen throwing trash and water bottles down onto the floor, too.

It doesn’t appear that any players were directly involved.

Officials eventually stopped the game completely and sent both teams to their locker rooms.

The game resumed nearly a half hour later. Wagner’s Will Martinez was ejected from the game for leaving the bench area. A big group of Seahawks fans were removed from the arena, too, and one was arrested.

The game was then quickly ended without much action at all. Both teams agreed to skip the final media timeout in an effort to speed things along. The Wagner bench actually cleared out early and the final few seconds of the game were called off in order to make sure Bryant students didn't run into any players while storming the court.

Bryant, after holding Wagner to just 12 points in the first half, cruised to the 70-43 win — which officially earned the Bulldogs a spot in the NCAA tournament for the first time in program history.

The NEC conference said on Wednesday that it was launching an investigation into the incident.