NORFOLK, Va. – Saturday night at Joseph Echols Hall, several thousand fans were treated to another successful Spartan Madness. Both Norfolk State basketball teams got the chance to showcase their skills on and off the court during the three-hour event.
 
The night featured the usual dance party atmosphere, with arena lights off, music up, and glow sticks and strobe lights creating a unique ambience for the approximately 3,500 people in attendance. Each player and coach from both teams were introduced to the song of their choosing, while men's head coach Robert Jones entered the arena while driving a white Range Rover Sport onto the floor.
 
Men's basketball freshman Caleb Dawkins was declared the winner of the dunk contest over three of his teammates. His second dunk of the night had the 6-1 newbie dunking over 6-10 teammate Efstratios Kalogerias, with a little push off at the end to get him over the tallest player on the team.
 
Dawkins' first dunk was an alley oop to himself off the side of the backboard. Freshmen Yoro Sidibe and Nyzaiah Chambers also took part. Chambers got all 9's on his first dunk, with Sidibe's first attempt came off a lob from a teammate. Chambers' windmill dunk on his second attempt drew rave reviews, while Sidibe got a better score on his second attempt when a teammate threw a lob off the side of the backboard.
 
Sophomore Chris Ford had a 360 and then a windmill dunk during his two attempts as well.
 
Both teams also did their usual 3-point contests. On the women's side, senior La'Deja James defeated fellow senior Dana Echols 13-8 in the final. James had topped freshman Camryn Platt-Morris to start in the first round, 13-12. Echols eventually defeated junior Jaylnn Holmes 13-8, using an extra 30 seconds after they were tied at 8-all following the one minute round.
 
On the men's side, senior Jermaine Bishop edged sophomore Joe Bryant Jr. 13-12 in the final. Bishop was victorious over freshman Daryl Anderson in the first round, 12-10, while Bryant defeated junior Kashaun Hicks, 14-13.
 
Sidibe gave team Gold the win over team Green in the team's intrasquad scrimmage, as the freshman's dunk with 44 seconds left put Gold up 22-20. The scrimmage featured a 20-minute running clock.
 
Gold led for most of the way, including in the early going thanks to a pair of layups from Sidibe and a 3-pointer from Dawkins. Bryant and freshman Jared White each had free throws sandwiched around a dunk from Chambers that put Green ahead 14-11 with seven minutes to go. Kalogerias had scored Green's first five points on a trey and two free throws in the first few minutes of the scrimmage.
 
Dawkins made another three, and junior Kyonze Chavis added a couple of buckets to put Gold back ahead. Bryant and junior Devante Carter had layups for Green to tie the score, and Bryant's layup with 1:04 left tied it again at 20-all before Sidibe's final bucket.
 
Team Gold also won the women's intrasquad scrimmage, which featured a 12-minute clock. Gold won despite Green going up 7-2 to start, thanks to a 3-pointer from Echols and back-to-back layups by Platt-Morris. Senior Maikaeala Jones made it 11-6 in favor of Green with 7:08 to go after the second of two straight layups.
 
But it was all Gold after James' trey with 5:55 put Green up 14-8. Sophomore Shekinah Howard nailed a 3-pointer, a jumper and a layup in less than two minutes to start a 15-0 run. Holmes had three straight buckets to extend the lead, and senior Chanette Hicks' layup put Gold up 23-14. Senior Blaire Thomas hit a couple of free throws late for the final 23-16 score.
 
Both teams will be in full practice mode for the next few weeks until their season openers on Nov. 5, a doubleheader at Joseph Echols Hall. The women will host Liberty at 6 p.m. followed by the men's game against Greensboro College at 8.