Midnight Madness inspires Bobcat pride

Basketball official pre-season begins with men’s and women’s scrimmages, team competitions

Madness hit the Centennial Center on Oct. 14 as the GCSU men’s and women’s basketball teams hosted their annual Midnight Madness, marking the start of the 2010-11 preseason.

The program began with the 2010 golf and baseball teams being honored for their Peach Belt Conference titles. After that, three-point shootouts for both teams and a slam dunk contest for the men’s team were held. To cap the night off, both teams played inter-squad scrimmages at midnight.

In the women’s portion of the three-point competition, senior guard Mandi Dudish, senior guard/forward Dominique Huffin, junior guard/forward Ashley Fox and senior guard Chimere Jordan competed against each other. The men’s three-point competitors were redshirt sophomore guard Ryan Lively, junior forward Ryan Aquino, sophomore guard Ryan Legates and senior forward Josh Hurst, battled it out with LeGates emerging as the winner.

After the three-point contests, the men’s team wooed the crowd with the slam dunk contest. Hurst and redshirt sophomore guard Nate Hamilton tied for the victory. Junior forward Mike Augustine and freshman point guard Aaron Robinson also competed in the event.

Both teams ended the night with inter-squad scrimmages. In the women’s game, the green team consisted of sophomore guard Karisma Boykin, Huffin, Fox, freshman forward Abby Slocumb, redshirt sophomore guard Kaila Parham, junior forward Tammeisha Law and freshman forward Molly Johnson. The white team was made up of junior guard Amanda Irwin, Jordan, Dudish, senior guard Jessica Baker, freshman guard Caroline Edmond and freshman forward Krysta Lewis.

“I thought the night went very well. The girls have been chomping at the bit to get out there on the court,” Head Coach Maurice Smith said. “The excitement was there. The energy was there. Overall, I was pleased.”

While the event marked the beginning of the team actually being able to have practice together, Smith said he was looking for more particular things.

“It was the first time we’ve done anything organized as a team, so I was mostly looking for whether or not our conditioning was good, and I felt like we were in good shape. The girls got up and down the floor pretty well,” Smith said. “Defensively, we were just looking to go over the fundamentals and apply them to the scrimmage.”

In the men’s scrimmage, the green team was made up of Hurst, redshirt senior forward Reece Wiedman, Aquino, Legates, sophomore guard JP Davis, freshman point guard Royal Thomas and freshman forward Jordan Grant.

The blue team consisted of Augustine, junior forward Jared Holmes, Hamilton, Lively, redshirt freshman guard Joey Bell, Robinson and freshman forward Paul Son.

“It was a great night, and the scrimmage went well. The guys have been working hard, and we had a long offseason focused on weightlifting and conditioning,” Head Coach Terry Seller said. “It was an exciting night with the crowd and all. I’m thankful that nobody got hurt, and we had a productive night. We started official practice last Friday, and it’s good to be back out on the court.”

Both teams open the season Nov. 17, as the men host Carver Bible, and the women host USC Aiken.