Pace Paw Print

Media Credit: Alex Pandolfi Steven Payton is elevating for a lay-up to get the crowd going

Oct. 17, Pleasantville- Many top basketball programs in the country unofficially kickoff their seasons with an event called "Midnight Madness."

Even though Pace University doesn't have a high profile basketball program, the Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) brought the madness to Pace last Wed. night with their event "Madness '07"

It was a night packed with entertainment, music pumping from WPAW, and plenty of contests/raffles for prizes. The event brought in a huge crowd in an effort to raise money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

The madness officially kicked off with a performance from Pace's cheerleading team, which gave a very spirited and crowd pleasing performance. This led to the introductions for both the men's and women's basketball teams.

A raffle was done after the player introductions, where anyone in the crowd was eligible to win the prize. In this case, the prize was comfortable court-side seats on a couch along with a pizza.

Then it was time for a five minute scrimmage for the women's basketball ball team. It was a great time for the team to show off their shooting skills in front of the packed bleechers.

Next, was the "Greek Fan Contest", where four lucky members of fraternities and sororities competed not only for a prize, but also some bragging rights. Each participant had to run to a pair of basketball shorts, shoes, and a jersey, and had to put them on. Then they had to continue running to a basketball ahead of them. After they retrieved the basketball, they needed to run across the court to sink in a lay-up.

After the Greek winner was determined, it was time for the men's basketball team to scrimmage for the crowd. The men were able to show off their dunking skills numerous times for the crowd in an exciting scrimmage.

A "Half-Court Shot Contest" was held next, giving three randomly selected contestants two attempts to drain a shot from half court. Unfortunately, none of the fortunate participants could win the prize.

Then came a performance from Hip Hop's Exclusive Athletic Team (HEAT). This performance, over everything else, probably received the most attention and loudest cheers the entire night.

Following HEAT's electrified performance was a contest between the men's and women's basketball teams, the "Men vs. Women 3 Point Shot Contest." One male and one female players had one minute to down as many three point shots as they could. It was a chance to see how the Setter's perform from long range.

The final contest for the night was the "Serious Shootout", with a prize of 10 thousand dollars. One chosen fan had 30 seconds to make a lay-up, a free throw, a three-point shot and a half court shot. Unfortunately for the lucky fan this daunting task wasn't accomplished on this night, and no 10 thousand dollar prize was awarded.

The President of SAAC, senior Joe Streany, was asked on his thoughts of Madness '07, "It was fun compared to last year. The crowd was really into it. I wish we could have had a dunk contest, but people could have gotten hurt."

Overall, the event appeared to be a huge success and was a great way to kickoff the basketball season. The first home games for men's and women's Basketball will be held on Nov. 20, when both teams will play American International College. The women's game will tip off at 5:30 p.m. and the men's at 7:30 p.m.

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