Ready For Round Two
10/21/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Oct. 21, 2008
SPARTANBURG, S.C. - 10:49 p.m. Monday, Oct. 20. Ready for Round Two!
The USC Upstate basketball teams were ushered into their second year of Division I and Atlantic Sun Conference play in style on Monday night at the Hodge Center, as the teams played part in Midnight Madness 2.0 in front of a ardent, excitable overflow crowd of 1,723 fans.
The event, which began with a performance from the Tantrum Dance Troupe, served notice as the introduction to USC Upstate's 2008-09 basketball teams, who are both in their second year of Division I play in the Atlantic Sun Conference after 17 years in the Division II Peach Belt Conference.
With the lights still dim around the arena, the 6th Man Crew, USC Upstate's fan group led by Tommy Henry, entered through the doors of the Hodge Center, tossing T-shirts to the crowd. After the entrance of the crew, Upstate's fans stood witness to a Pop Lock Battle between Legendary Poppin' Phenom Archie and Africano.
After the battle, the attention of the gym turned to the teams as both the women's and men's teams were introduced. The women were introduced as several threw out T-shirts. The men were introduced to strains of Young Jeezy's "Put On" over the speakers brought in for the event, tossing T-shirts to the amped-up crowd.
After the introductions, Upstate was treated to a special battle of its very own rappers, with men's golfer Jamie Lightsey and former men's basketball star Jay Free engaging in a freestyle dual at center court. Lightsey, the senior golfer, took advantage as the first to flow, taking the battle with Free, who bowed to the golf team's cut-up.
After the freestyle battle, the marketing and promotions department held their first giveaways of the night, handing out two $100 book vouchers from the campus bookstore. Then the teams were set for the Battle of the Sexes 3-point shootout. Men's basketball senior Zac Rich defended his title, starting hot from the left corner, draining three of his first four shots en route to the 11-5 win over women's basketball's Tiffany Whiting.
After the 3-point shootout, the Upstate cheerleaders tossed out more T-shirts to the crowd, and two IPod shuffles. Then the crowd got a chance to compete against the Spartans, as two fans took the floor to compete against a men's and women's player for a shot to win Charlette Bobcats' season-opener tickets. The first fan was able to tie women's basketball's Tara Tranum before Spartan fan Jason Gray defeated men's basketball's Matt Preston. Both fans still received the tickets.
Following another set of giveaways, Spartan men Matt Preston, Nick Schneiders, Bobby Davis and Pat Posey met in a Slam Dunk Contest with a special set of judges including former USC Upstate basketball standouts Sarah Jansen, Julia Blandin, Betsy Farmer Whiteside (women), and Jay Free and Jesse Robinson (men).
After windmill dunks from both Pat Posey and Bobby Davis (on a bounce pass from special guest Josh Chavis), the duo were destined for the finals. In the first round, Davis tossed a lob off the glass before jamming it home and Posey went over-his-head as he downed a two-handed dunk.
From the sidelines, head men's basketball coach Eddie Payne took the microphone and declared, "Overtime."
So the two took the contest to the next level, as Posey took a fan of 5-4 from the crowd and leaped over him at the edge of the lane before slamming it home. Davis, not to be outdone, leaped over three cheerleaders and completed a two-handed dunk. From there, the judges had no choice but to declare the contest a tie.
After a Playstation III Gaming System was given away, Payne wrapped up the night, saying, "I want to thank you all for coming. Now, we really want you to come to the games. We have Duquesne coming in on Nov. 25 for our home opener and it is one of the best teams to ever play here in Spartanburg."
The men's basketball team opens its season on Nov. 14 at 7 p.m. at reigning SEC Champion Georgia. The women's team opens its season on Nov. 15 at 7 p.m. when it travels to regional rival Presbyterian.
