Police fire tear gas into crowd at Indiana

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Basketball fans upset by Indiana's loss in the NCAA championship torched couches, toppled street signs and threw beer bottles at officers, while Maryland fans set bonfires and shot off fireworks in celebration.

In Bloomington, officers broke up the crowd with tear gas, sending hundreds of students and fans from an intersection near the edge of the Indiana University campus at about 1:30 a.m. Tuesday.

About 30 students were arrested on charges including public intoxication, criminal mischief and disorderly conduct, police said.

"When students started getting pelted with bottles that's when we decided to move and disperse the crowd," Bloomington Police Capt. Mike Deikhoff said. "If the crowd hadn't started throwing beer bottles and setting fires we wouldn't have had to act."

The violence came after some students and fans turned bitter following Indiana's 64-52 loss to Maryland late Monday.

In Maryland, police on horseback pushed thousands of revelers off the streets early Tuesday, trying to rein in a victory celebration by fans ecstatic over the school's first national basketball championship. About 10 people were arrested, police said.

"This is terrible. We've finally started to lose the reputation as the Len Bias death school, and now we're known as the riot school," said student Josh Fingold, 21, referring to the 1986 cocaine overdose death of the Maryland basketball star.

Despite the victory and an increased police presence, the Maryland crowd turned riotous, breaking the window of bicycle shop, throwing bottles and other objects at police and lighting bonfires.

Several officers suffered minor injuries when they were struck by bottles and other objects, said Lt. Bud Frank, a state police spokesman.

In Bloomington, several students and a few officers were taken to hospitals with minor injuries after they were hit by bottles, Deikhoff said.

Police shut intersections in downtown Bloomington about 11:15 p.m., before fans spilled out of bars, houses and dorms to share their disappointment.

Minutes later, vandalism reports began pouring in, starting with a trash fire near an apartment complex and students setting ablaze couches, trash bins and others items. Street signs were torn down and post office deposit boxes were toppled. By 2:30 a.m., most of the crowd had dispersed.

The damage in Maryland did not appear to be as bad as after last year's Final Four loss to Duke when one bonfire caused about $500,000 in damage and disrupted cable service when it burned through a fiber optic line.

Maj. Jeff Cox, head of the Prince George's County police department's patrol unit, said most of the revelers did not cause trouble, blaming a few rogues.

"I wish I knew why we keep having this problem. I'm hoping tonight we found the formula for taking care of it," Cox said.