Sophomore guard Mike Lewis (left) hands an autographed team picures and schedules for the 2009 Colonel team Thursday.

Hoopsfest offers glimpse of what's to come in '09

Fans came out Thursday for Halloween festivities and a 2009-10 basketball preview

By: Langdon Barnes

Posted: 11/5/09

Eastern's men's and women's basketball teams put on their first show of the season Thursday night in the university's seventh annual Halloween Hoopfest.

The event was free to the public, and more than 1,000 students, alumni, parents, and children came out to support Colonel basketball and enjoy the evening's festivities.

Doors opened at 6 p.m., and Alumni Coliseum soon filled up with people celebrating Halloween in a variety of different costumes.

Kids were dressed in anything from Spider-man to ghosts. There were vampires, witches, princesses and even a ninja or two.

Eastern cheerleaders and the Colonel himself gave out gift bags and free Halloween Hoopfest T-shirts.

The lobby was filled with different games and activities especially for children dressed for Halloween. Candy was free at several booths, along with different prizes. Judges chose the best costumes of the night and were announced later in the festivities.

Eastern basketball events began with the lights going out in the arena. With music blasting, both the women's and men's teams took the court.

Both teams fell into their lay-up lines with the lights still out. The men put on a show by dunking on almost every trip to the hoop. One by one, the players took turns getting up and throwing down to fire up the crowd, offering a preview of the upcoming dunk contest just minutes away.

The warm up was followed by a 3-point contest. The contest featured two teams, each made up of one man and one woman from Eastern's teams. Senior guard Robin Mestdagh and junior Nadia Mossong took home bragging rights by winning the contest.

One of the crowd's favorite events of the night was the slam-dunk contest.

The contest featured junior college transfer Spencer Perrin and defending champion Justin Stommes.

Perrin was up first and did not disappoint.

Starting in the corner, Perrin tossed the ball up and caught it in mid-air off the bounce. He then brought the ball around and threw down a powerful windmill dunk, getting a rise from the crowd.

Stommes was next, coming from under the basket to put down a reverse windmill dunk well above the rim.

Both players throughout the contest used Senior Papa Oppong.

He walked off the court and threw a pass from the stands Perrin caught and slammed in. The dunk received the only perfect score of the contest.

Stommes tossed a pass off the backboard that Oppong headed like a soccer player back to him for the dunk.

The two players ended up having to dunk one more time at the end because of their tied scores. Perrin eventually won the contest, knocking off last year's winner in Stommes.

The women's team shined next in a black/white scrimmage.

The game was fast-paced and the white team started up early.

"We want to run this season," head coach Chrissy Roberts said. "We're going to have an up-tempo offense with a lot of pushing and attacking the basket."

Junior college transfer Talish Davis was a key player in the fast-paced game. She showed her speed and ability to run the fast break in the inner-squad scrimmage.

Davis averaged 16 points, four assists and three steals per game at Lincoln Trail College. The 5-foot-6-inch guard finished fourth on the school's all-time scoring list in her two years.

The men's team then took the floor for a ten-minute scrimmage.

The game started slow as the players got used to game-time situations.

The pace quickly picked up as both teams worked into their up-tempo offense.

"We want to play a fast-paced game because it works in our favor," head coach Jeff Neubauer said. "We recruit good shooters that fit into our spaced-out offense."

The scrimmage went back and forth as both teams traded baskets. The white team ended up winning 14-13.

Returning starter Justin Stommes led the white team with nine points. Sophomore Josh Jones also scored nine points to lead the maroon team.

"The scrimmage is used to show what we have this year and to have fun," Neubauer said. "We are usually very analytical about the mistakes we make. Tonight we just wanted to have a good time."

After the event, both teams signed autographs and talked to fans.

"This event is a great way to get the community involved," Neubauer said. "People come out and love to support our teams. We just want to come out and give a good show for our fans."