Camby Collapses Before Game Massachusetts’ Star Center Listed In Stable Condition

Marcus Camby, the outstanding center for top-ranked Massachusetts, was in stable condition Sunday night after collapsing minutes before a game against St. Bonaventure.

He was to be held overnight at Olean General Hospital in an effort to determine what caused the episode in a corridor near the locker room six minutes before tipoff.

“He’s doing fine now,” St. Bonaventure team physician Dr. Ed Griffin said after UMass’ 65-52 victory. “He’s alert and knows where he is. In fact, he asked what the score was while he was in the emergency room.”

Camby, a 21-year-old junior, was taken to the hospital by ambulance and was accompanied by UMass coach John Calipari.

Janice Camby of Hartford, Conn., told WVIT-TV in West Hartford that her son had been fighting a cold and that he may not have eaten anything before the game.

“The coach said that he had taken some cough medicine and when he got ready to come out I guess he felt light-headed,” Janice Camby said, adding that blood tests and a CAT scan showed nothing irregular.

Marilyn Nelson, of East Hartford, Conn., Marcus Camby’s aunt, said her nephew had contacted his mother Sunday.

“He’s doing fine; nothing to get alarmed about,” Nelson said. “As far as we know he’s doing great,”

Griffin said Camby fell slowly to the floor in the corridor after warmups.

“He had a pulse,” the doctor said. “He didn’t appear to have any life-threatening problem at that moment, but he was unresponsive to verbal commands for approximately 10 minutes.”

The player began to respond “slowly but appropriately” while in the ambulance.

“An incident like this puts things into the perspective they should be in,” Calipari said. “Basketball is not life or death.”

Calipari, who was going to spend the night in Olean and wait to return to Amherst, Mass., with Camby when he is released, said the team gathered for a prayer before he left for the hospital.

The players got a chance to visit Camby before leaving Olean. They appeared much more upbeat while walking out of the emergency room doors than when they entered. They were instructed not to talk to the media after leaving the hospital.

An eyewitness, Ed Baron, the brother of St. Bonaventure coach Jim Baron, said Camby “was hurting” after collapsing.

“His eyes were open.” Baron said. “He looked more scared than anything.”

Sophomore Inus Norville replaced Camby in the starting lineup against the Bonnies. Assistant coach James Flint took over the team while Calipari went to the hospital.

“We just said, ‘Let’s win this for the big guy,”’ Flint said. “We did what we usually do to win.

“It’s tough when you see that kind of thing,” Flint said. “A couple guys cried before the game. We just wanted to play for Marcus.”

The 6-foot-11 Camby is averaging 20.9 points and 7.5 rebounds and is considered among the best big men in college basketball. He already has been touted as a probable NBA lottery pick when he decides to turn professional.

Camby was named Atlantic 10 Conference player of the week Sunday for the second straight time and third time this season.

In his previous two games, he had career-high 38 points against Dayton, then 34 in an overtime victory over St. Joseph’s.

Camby’s scoring average leads the conference as does his average of 3.2 blocked shots.

He is 16 points shy of 1,000 for his career and is the school’s career blocked-shot leader with 250, having passed Julius Erving.

Camby bruised his right knee early in the semifinals of the Rainbow Classic last month against Southern California and didn’t return to the game. He didn’t start in the championship game against Syracuse, but played 33 minutes and had 20 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks.

The incident comes four days after a UMass swimmer, Greg Menton, was stricken with an apparent heart attack and died during a meet at Dartmouth College. Menton, 20, a junior from Dundee, Ore., had just finished swimming two events.

Menton held several UMass swim records and also starred on the university’s water polo team, which this fall reached the final four for the squad’s highest finish.

On Jan. 27, 1994, UMass junior guard Michael Williams collapsed on the floor during game at Cincinnati. Tests revealed no cardiac problems and he was cleared to play two weeks later. Doctors attributed the collapse to a respiratory infection and dehydration.