Faculty, students show off hoop skills in annual matchup

A crowd of about 50 students patiently waited in Whitaker Gymnasium for the tip-off of the faculty versus students basketball game.

The game was sponsored by Campus Recreation.

The crowd got a few laughs while simply watching the teams warm up.

  There were several missed lay-ups by a few faculty members, which are considered to be the "easy" shots in basketball.

The student team consisted of senior Dwayne Martin; senior Charles Hood; sophomore Damon Salvadore; junior Dee Mcrae; senior Joshua Parker; junior Marquis Hulbert; senior Mike Walker; and, freshman Traquan Harris.

Players on the faculty team included Dash McNeal, director of Campus Recreation; Jeff Alexander, hall director; Jo Ann Coco-Ripp, therapeutic recreation professor; Kentaus Carter, assistant basketball coach; Norris Gullick, property security officer.

The game started with the faculty getting the jump ball.

Possession of the ball quickly shifted, with a steal from Walker.

The students were the first to score 25 seconds into the game.

The students gained possession of the ball and scored two more times before faculty managed to get on the scoreboard.

 Coco-Ripp was the only female player on the court, and was a fan favorite from the start.  

She received only two minutes of playing time, but she brought a lot of laughs and cheers from the crowd in that small amount of time.

Coco-Ripp donned a black number 28 jersey and mainly supported her team from the bench.

While on the court, Coco-Ripp was the team's point guard.

Even from the sidelines, Coco-Ripp was a vocal member of the faculty team.  

She could be heard cheering on her teammates throughout the entire game.

With seven minutes left in the first half, energy began to pick up.

The crowd began cheering louder as each team began to play harder.

Martin got the rebound from a missed shot by a faculty member and attempted to take the ball back to the other end of the court.

Alexander stole the ball from Martin and sprinted down the court to miss an easy wide open layup.

While Martin was running back down court, he somehow ended up running through the crowd sitting in the stands.

The students led at halftime 45-22.

The second half started with the same high energy from the first half.

Hulbert showed up to play for the student team for the second half and scored 22 points.

Excitement from the crowd increased after Hulbert passed Walker the ball that led to a one-hand dunk over McNeal.

The students won 90-74.

"They are lucky I wasn't here for the first half because then we would have hit 100," Hulbert said.

Hulbert is a social work major from Chicago.