Hoops Takes Center Stage as "Midnight Madness" Grips Manley Field House
10/24/2008 10:15:31 PM | Men's Basketball, Women's Basketball
SYRACUSE, N.Y. – The Orange men’s and women’s basketball teams entertained a capacity crowd on Friday, Oct. 24 at Manley Field House as part of “Midnight Madness” presented by Syracuse Athletics, AmeriCU Credit Union and TK99.
Former Syracuse standout Leo Rautins served as the master of ceremonies for the basketball extravanganza, which also featured TK99’s Gomez and Dave as well as the SU cheerleaders, dance team and Otto the Orange.
The women’s team took the court first with head coach Quentin Hillsman dressed as a boxer complete with gloves and a robe. The squad opened with some full-court drills before splitting into two teams (Blue and Orange) for an eight-minute scrimmage.
The Blue squad led, 7-4, after the first four minutes on a go-ahead three by Nicole Michael and went on to win, 18-9. Erica Morrow provided the winning margin with a 3-pointer at the buzzer.
After the women’s scrimmage, the men’s team was introduced. Coach Jim Boeheim, who served as an assistant coach for Team USA at the Beijing Olympics, came dressed in his outfit from the opening ceremonies. He stood atop a make-shift medal stand as Otto draped an over-sized gold medal around his neck much to the delight of the crowd.
Paul Harris, playing for the Orange team, opened the men’s eight-minute scrimmage with a thurnderous dunk, but the Blue squad led, 11-10, at the break and hung on for a 21-20 victory.
Following the scrimmage, the men's and women's teams engaged in a skills competition to close the event. Marisa Gobuty and Eric Devendorf teamed up to defeat Morrow and Andy Rautins in a 3-point shooting contest, 9-8. Gobuty connected on three attempts and Devendorf hit four of his first five shots, including a two-point “money ball”, then sank one more to secure the victory. Morrow canned three triples and Rautins hit five in a losing effort.
To end the skills competition, Wesley Johnson, Harris, Mookie Jones, Kristof Ongenaet and Kris Joseph engaged in a slam dunk contest. Johnson and Harris moved on to the final and Harris won it with a reverse, one-handed slam after Johnson missed on his three attempts. Harris then delighted the crowd by dunking over three kids he pulled from the audience.
In between the 3-point shooting contest and the dunk competition, Jonny Flynn stole the show, winning a dance contest versus Vionca Murray, Chandrea Jones and Sean Williams by dancing with a fan in the front row to “Soulja Boy.”
The men’s squad tips off the 2008-09 campaign with an exhibition contest on Monday, Nov. 3 against Cal State-Los Angeles at 7 p.m. in the Carrier Dome. The Orange women jump right into regular-season play with a road game at Siena on Friday, Nov. 14 at 7 p.m.
Season tickets for SU men’s and women’s basketball are now on sale. Men’s individual game tickets are also available. Tickets may be purchased online, by phone through Ticketmaster, in the Syracuse area at 315-472-0700, or in person at the Carrier Dome Box Office. Women’s individual game tickets will go on sale beginning Wednesday, Oct. 29.
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