Puerto Rico Basketball Fight
A league game in Puerto Rico turned violent as a fight broke out during a matchup between Ponce and Humacao. No one was hurt but several individuals were ejected from the basketball game.

In basketball, fights occasionally break out on the court. Rarely do they occur in the stands (except if you count Ron Artest actually going in the stands to fight a fan). You never see a brawl in the stands between family members of teams.

That is what fans of Baloncesto Superior Nacional got on Tuesday. It's the Puerto Rican equivalent to the NBA where below-average NBA players go to continue their careers. Some NBA Hall of Fame coaches got their starts in the BSN such as Tex Winter, who created the triangle that helped the Chicago Bulls and Michael Jordan six NBA titles, and Red Holtzman, who coached the New York Knicks to two NBA titiles. Another famous coach who started in Puerto Rico is 11-time NBA champion coach Phil Jackson, who coached Quebradillas in the 1980s.

Tuesday’s game featured the first place Ponce Lions and Humacao Chiefs-Giants.

With 8:26 remaining in the 4th quarter, Ponce was trailing Humacao by nine when Ponce player Carlos Emory (formerly of the University of Oregon Ducks) fouled Humacao’s Derrick Byars (formerly of the Vanderbilt University Commodores) as Byars drove to the basket. Emory was charged with a flagrant foul, and that should have been the end of it.

Or so we thought.

As Byars began shooting his free throws, a fight broke out in the stands behind the basket. The players on the bench near the stands pointed to the area where the disturbance was taking place. The game was delayed for 10 minutes while the situation was being settled.

During the broadcast, game announcers mentioned that Humacao star Bimbo Carmona attempted to calm down a few of the individuals. As it turns out, a few of the individuals Carmona was attempting to calm down were his family members who reportedly started to fight with fans of Ponce. Also shown in the video were a number of little kids running from the vicinity of the fight. A number of those children also ran onto the court during the melee.

Once police were able to control the situation, numerous individuals were ejected from Auditorio Juan Pachin Vicens.

After the melee in Auditorio Vicens ended, Humacao won by 20. Ponce, who went to 21-10 with the loss, stayed at the top of the Balonceto Superior Nacional while Humacao moved into a sixth-place tie with Guayana Warlocks.

Pretty sure no one cared about the outcome of the game however.

Watch video of the brawl by clicking here.

Puerto rico NBA Basketball