Over 300 students attended Hootie’s Nocturnal Knockout on Friday, Nov. 3. The event featured Keene State College’s men and women’s basketball teams, cheerleading team and dance team.

Alexandria Saurman / managing Executive Editor

The night began by introducing the women’s basketball team. Members from the crowd were then chosen to join a few players in a shooting competition in which contestants had to make a variety of shots.

KSC first year student Victoria Overko said she enjoyed seeing the women’s team.

She said it was fun to see the athletes and other students “messing around.” Overko joked that she came to the event “for the free stuff.”

Hootie’s Nocturnal Knockout also featured a “Human Hungry-Hungry Hippos” game, where players who were on a square scooter were slid around by a partner and tried to capture dodge balls with laundry baskets.

Alexandria Saurman / managing Executive Editor

The men’s team was then introduced, along with the coaching staff.

The men’s team had a skills contest from which three players were chosen to face-off. These players then participated in a dunk contest.

The player who won made both an off-the-backboard and a 360 behind-the-head dunk.

First-year student Devin Hardy said watching the dunk contest was great and had been his favorite part of the night.

Hardy said he was invited by some friends, thought the event was a lot of fun and that he would go again.

Throughout the night, event organizers were shooting T-shirts into the audience and quite a few scrambles occurred throughout the night in the pursuit of the T-shirts.

Alexandria Saurman / managing Executive Editor

First-year student Jesse Cormier, who caught a T-shirt, said it was very exciting.

Cormier said that he enjoyed being picked for a contest.

He said that his initial attraction to the event was the Hootie’s Rewards Points for the night. Hootie’s Rewards Points can be used to win prizes if you collect enough of them by attending on-campus events.

Later, a race involving both the student audience and both teams players was held.

The objective of the race was to wrap the team’s athlete like a mummy.

After that, musical chairs was held with around a dozen students competing. Mid-way through the game, the event’s DJ Dominique Pascoal announced that the students were playing for a prize of a new 32-inch TV.

Other prizes of the night included a Fit-Bit, a tablet and a $50 gift-card to Walmart.

Alexandria Saurman / managing Executive Editor

Hardy had a friend who was chosen for musical chairs and said it was fun watching him almost win a TV.

First-year student Grace Zangrilli, who was a cheerleader in high school, said that watching both the cheer team and the dance team was a lot of fun.

She later said that she was impressed by their skills and she thought the team brought good energy to the event.

Zangrilli also said that the best part of the night was watching another student, sophomore Nate Flyzik, make a half-court shot to win a thousand-dollar scholarship.

She said that she “was really happy for him,” but joked that she wished she could of had the chance to win the money.

Zangrilli said she thinks events like these help to bring students together on campus and said she was pleasantly surprised to see all the school spirit her fellow students had.

Simon Burch can be contacted at sburch@kscequinox.com