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KRYSTLE MARCELLUS / KMARCELLUS@STARADVERTISER.COM
University of Hawaii Warrior's fans attempt to distract UC Davis Aggies' Tyler Les at the free-throw line in the second half of a Big West men's basketball game at the Stan Sheriff Center.
A fan was arrested following Thursday night’s men’s basketball game between Hawaii and UC Davis, UH athletic director Ben Jay said Friday.
Multiple items, including miniature sponge stress balls given to the crowd earlier in the game, were thrown on the court in the final seconds and after the contest, leading to a tense finish that saw Davis go to its locker room without shaking hands with UH coaches and players. UH beat UC Davis 84-76.
“First of all, we had one arrest last night where we identified a person in the crowd, and identified that person to the police … and we issued a (criminal) trespass warning on him,” Jay said.
UH is attempting to identify two other people seen on video throwing objects, Jay added.
When Davis guard Tyler Les was at the free-throw line with 2.4 seconds left, an object Jay identified as “ChapStick” was thrown on the floor. UH was called for a technical foul for the debris, followed by another tech on forward Aaron Valdes during some jawing between the teams. Six straight free throws allowed the Aggies to trim the final margin to 84-76.
At least one of the sponge balls were thrown after the final horn. UC Davis coach Jim Les said it contributed to his decision to wave his team straight down a tunnel into the locker room area.
“We are going after the folks who threw items on there,” Jay said. “The person who threw the ChapStick on the floor during that free throw, which earned us the technical foul, and another person who threw one of those sponge stress ball out on the court as well. We will try to identify them and ban them from the arena for one year. It’s a criminal trespass charge and we can ban them for one year.”
Jay affirmed the items were thrown from the side of the arena with the UH student section.
He said there wouldn’t be an announcement made to students or other fans about throwing objects at future home games. “I think common sense should prevail on those type of things,” Jay said.
The Rainbow Warriors host UC Irvine on Saturday at 7 p.m.
