Fairleigh Dickinson Men’s Basketball Players Get Stuck in Elevator Before LIU Game

Thirteen Fairleigh Dickinson men’s basketball players got stuck in an elevator Thursday night at the Steinberg Wellness Center in Brooklyn, New York, before their road game against LIU Brooklyn.

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

Fairleigh Dickinson’s junior center, Ansley Almonor, said he and a couple of his teammates were in the 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 the lights inside the carriage went out.

Firefighters are working on getting FDU players out of a stuck elevator.

The elevator takes the players from the locker room to the court. The Knights’ game at LIU is currently in a delay. pic.twitter.com/jQQlx8QUhr

— CBS Sports College Basketball 🏀 (@CBSSportsCBB) February 16, 2024

“The lights went off and we were just like, ‘Oh, no,'” said Almonor, who ended his performance with 19 points and nine rebounds in FDU’s 84-82 overtime 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.”

After regaining their composure, the players screamed for help and called a teammate. Fortunately, they located the emergency button on the elevator moments later.

The FDU players were told that help would arrive soon. Almonor said they talked and laughed about what had happened until New York City firefighters arrived 10 minutes later.

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

NYC firefighters rescued 13 Fairleigh Dickinson men’s basketball players from elevator at Steinberg Wellness Center

Knights head coach Jack Castleberry explained what had happened during the postgame interview.

“Your locker room at LIU is about three floors from where the court is,” Castleberry said. “So instead of going down the stairs, 13 of the 15 guys on the team decide to hop on the elevator. Now it’s like a freight elevator, it’s a big elevator. Still, that’s probably on the high end of what should be on that elevator.”

Castleberry was waiting downstairs for them when the elevator got stuck between floors.

“There was only four feet of space – they had to crawl out to get out of it,” the coach added. “I was there when they crawled out. I’m not going to lie: There were a few of them that had some very concerned looks on their faces.”

Hearing that it was extremely hot in the elevator and they were in there for 15 minutes.

How is this going to impact Fairleigh Dickinson’s play? Seems rather unprecedented so I really can’t say https://t.co/oSX4zIL71G pic.twitter.com/1vXeZVhIw1

— Coleman Crawley (@SharpshotSelect) February 16, 2024

Following the pregame mishap, game officials gave FDU extra time for warmups after Castleberry informed the crew of the incident. He let his players rest for five minutes and then huddled them up.

“Are we good? Alright let’s go do it,” he said. “They got the job done. That could have gone a lot differently. It was a tough game on top of it. LIU played a really good game.”

Almonor went on to score his 1,000th career point in the win, but this game will now always be remembered for something that has nothing to do with basketball.

“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.”