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Buzzer malfunction halts NCAA Tournament game for nearly 10 minutes

The NCAA Tournament took an odd turn when a screeching buzzer froze play. With scoreboards failing, the game pressed on—amid confusion and cheers.

The image shows a large arena filled with lots of people watching a basketball game. There are...
The image shows a large arena filled with lots of people watching a basketball game. There are people sitting on chairs and some standing on the ground, and a person holding a mobile phone in their hand. At the top of the image, there is a ceiling with rods and lights, and in the middle of the picture, there are boards with text and a screen. The text on the boards reads "Michigan Wolverines Basketball".

HOUSTON (AP) - A buzzer malfunction caused a delay - a very loud, very unpleasant delay - of about 10 minutes in the first half of the NCAA Tournament's South Region final between Iowa and Illinois on Saturday night.

Buzzer malfunction halts NCAA Tournament game for nearly 10 minutes

When the buzzer sounded out of a media timeout with 7:43 left in the first half, it kept blaring uninterrupted for about seven minutes. Players stood on the court ready to play for a couple of minutes before both teams started to warm up as the buzzer continued to sound.

It was finally silenced, to cheers from the crowd, but then the main scoreboard and video screen that hangs over the middle of the court went dark.

The game ultimately resumed with the big scoreboard still off. Two smaller scoreboards at each end of the arena were working.

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