Friday marked the start of the 2009-10 Cougar basketball season. The men and women’s teams began the day with the first official practices of the year at Midnight Mayhem – an event that received some help from the ZZU CRU.

The night got underway after the WSU volleyball match where the Cougars came away with a win over the No. 16 USC Trojans. Picking up on the electric vibe from the win, Midnight Mayhem was all about having some fun and getting people excited about basketball.

While the crowd was finishing the last of the free pizza, first year Head Coach Ken Bone came out to introduce himself and talk about the upcoming season.

“I’m excited about the season,” he said. “These guys are gonna be really fun to watch.” Bone has his work cut out for him this year as the team is made up of eight freshmen, seven sophomores and the lone senior, Nikola Koprivica.

Once the men’s team had been introduced, it was time to meet the women’s team. The women came out fired up, and Head Coach June Daugherty said the team is ready to tackle any opponent that comes their way.

“We’re playing up-tempo basketball and these young women have worked hard. We’re coming after you, Pac-10,” Daugherty said.

The first display of basketball skills was a 3-point shooting contest pairing the men and women’s six best shooters into two teams, Crimson and Gray. The Crimson team pulled out the win and consisted of freshman Reggie Moore, redshirt freshman John Allen and sophomore Michael Harthun from the men’s team. Playing for team Gray were sophomores Jazmine Perkins, Rosie Tarnowski and Danielle LeNoir from the women’s team.

The highlight of the night was the men’s slam dunk contest. Competing were Moore, fellow freshman Brock Motum, redshirt freshman James Watson and sophomore Marcus Capers. While all the guys received tons of cheers from the packed gym, the loudest were for Motum and Capers, who faced off in the finals.

Motum’s best dunk came when he bounced the ball, sprinted and ripped off his shirt then leapt and proceeded to dunk with one hand.

However, Capers ended up winning the event after he hooked an entire elbow into the rim as he dunked and then finished with some swaying hang time.

In attendance was sophomore communication major Christine Byrnes. Byrnes was amazed at the dunks performed in the contest and is ready for basketball season.

“I really like basketball games because I like how loud the crowd gets,” she said.

The night ended with a chance for fans to get their basketball posters signed by the players.