A scuffle lasting several minutes marred the end of the Hawaii women’s basketball team’s 59-56 loss against West Virginia on Sunday night. UH athletic director Ben Jay was hurt in the scuffle and remained kneeling on the Stan Sheriff Center court for several minutes.
Moments after the game, while Bank of Hawaii Rainbow Wahine Classic tournament awards were being prepared, a fight broke out behind the West Virginia bench among Mountaineers fans, the visiting team and at least one UH fan.
Jay tried to intervene and emerged from the fracas a few minutes later holding his face. He lay kneeling close to the center court "H" for more than 10 minutes while people attended to him.
Jay received treatment from EMTs on the court for his back. He walked off the court slowly under his own power after about 20 minutes, saying his back "spasmed up" on him.
"We were getting ready to do the awards ceremony and I saw the fight break out in the corner, so I just leaped over there to try and help break it up," Jay said. "We were just trying to peel people off and keep everybody from swinging and everything. And then I got hit with something in the back."
Questions about the level of security in the arena arose in the immediate aftermath.
"Obviously we needed some help in there, but it’s the kind of thing we need to really break up fast," Jay said. "It’s unfortunate and everything. It was a fan and I think a (WVU) assistant coach got into it, and that’s where it got out of control."
Arena manager Rich Sheriff said there might have been a few security members short on the Sunday game, but he said a normal complement also would have been ill-prepared for such chaos.
"In 19 years, we haven’t had anything like that," Sheriff said. "We’ve never had an incident in women’s basketball. It’s just one of those things. Now we’re going to have to look at our security plan and probably beef it up, and just make sure our people are doing everything they can so it doesn’t happen again.
"There were so many people involved, that’s something you would have to staff up pretty heavily for it. In that moment, you can only just react when it happens."
