Dwayne Polee collapses in game

SAN DIEGO -- San Diego State forward Dwayne Polee II collapsed on the court during a game against UC Riverside on Monday night and was tended to by a paramedic for several minutes before being taken off on a gurney.

The crowd at Viejas Arena, hushed while Polee was down, gave him a standing ovation as he was lifted onto the gurney after being hooked up to an electrocardiogram machine. Polee was conscious as he was wheeled off the court. His teammates came over and gave him fist-bumps. Polee pumped his fists toward the crowd.

"I said, 'Dwayne, you're going to be fine,'" coach Steve Fisher said after the game. "He said, 'I'm OK, Coach. Tell them to win the game.'"

SDSU officials didn't immediately know what happened. After the Aztecs' 61-33 victory, Fisher said a doctor told SDSU head athletic trainer Tom Abdenour that Polee was "alert and responsive" after being admitted to a hospital.

"They are going to run a battery of tests that will probably start (Tuesday)," Fisher said. "The positive signs are that he is alert and responsive. They did the normal protocol, including an EKG. He was never given oxygen and they didn't use anything to get him to be responsive.

"We will just pray that the tests can be run and can determine what the cause of it might be and move forward from there. Our No. 1 thought right now is for Dwayne Polee, and he is in a spot right now where the experts will be able to take care of them."

Polee had missed a layup and teammate J.J. O'Brien scored on a tip-in for a 14-8 lead with more than 11 minutes left in the half. Polee turned and ran down the floor and collapsed face-first near the key opposite SDSU's bench.

Right after he fell, someone in the crowd hollered, "Call 911," and teammates Matt Shrigley and Dakarai Allen quickly called for a timeout.

The 69-year-old Fisher said he has never witnessed anything like it during his career.

"No, I have not. You hope that you never do," Fisher said. "We all were right there and saw what happened. He went down, and you fear for the worst when you first see him. I think all of us feel significantly better after hearing the report from Tom (Abdenour)."

Polee's father and mother came out of the stands to be near their son. His father, Dwayne Sr., is director of player development at the University of San Francisco.

"I'm glad they were here, to be honest," Fisher said, adding that Dwayne Sr. went with his son in the ambulance and his mother followed in a car.

The incident shook up Polee's teammates as well.

"It's definitely difficult," O'Brien said. "Basketball becomes something that's not important anymore, and just looking out for your teammate and hoping he's OK is what's on your mind. I think it was good when we saw him leave and he was OK and told us all, 'Just go get a win for us.'

"That made us feel a little bit better. But basketball takes a second hand to what happened."

Information from ESPN.com's Jeff Goodman and The Associated Press was used in this report.