Man stabbed during Syracuse hoops event

Syracuse was forced to end its annual "Orange Madness" basketball season tip-off event at the Carrier Dome 30 minutes early after a 25-year old man was stabbed during a celebration, according to several media reports.

Police said the stabbing happened in an arena concourse around 9:30 p.m. Friday, and the victim was treated at a hospital. No Syracuse students were believed to be involved.

Syracuse Police Sgt. Tom Connellan told reporters that several fights taking place caused the event to be canceled early.

Syracuse University Chancellor Nancy Cantor and athletic director Daryl Gross issued a statement on the incident:

"We were saddened to learn of the incident at the Dome last night," Cantor said. "There is no place and no tolerance for anything like this, and future Orange Madness events will be designed to prevent incidents such as this. We are proud of the terrific partnership among Syracuse City Police, SU Department of Public Safety and Carrier Dome security staff, and we are confident that their work will continue to maintain a safe and secure environment for our patrons who come to the Dome to enjoy the hard work and efforts of our student-athletes."

Connellan told reporters he didn't think the incident represented the general safety of the Carrier Dome.

"The Dome is safe," he said. "This is a very rare event to have something like this happen inside."

Contributing: wire reports