Leo’s Late-Season Madness ended with a win for the women’s basketball team and a loss for the men’s basketball team, keeping the men’s team below .500 for the season and putting the women’s team above .750.

The women’s team’s game against Trinity Christian University started off with a 50-32 lead for PNW going into the second half but ended with a slight comeback from the opposition, ending in a narrower score of 76-68. The men’s team had a strong second half, scoring 50 points, but that did not make up enough for the low scores in the first half,  thus resulting in a 74-87 loss.

Leo’s Late-Season Madness was held in the DSSAC at the Westville campus on Feb. 15. It is similar to Late Night Madness, which is held at the Hammond campus. Late Night Madness is essentially a giant pep rally to get students and athletes excited for basketball season, whereas Leo’s Late-Season Madness was a condensed version to keep the excitement going during the middle of the season. Both events offer free food and T-shirts to students who attend as well as games where students can win PNW swag or gift cards. During one of the games, a student had to throw rubber chickens across the court while his or her teammate would catch the chicken on the opposite side in a large plastic container. Whoever caught the most chickens received a gift card for Buffalo Wild Wings. During time-outs, the Cheer Team would throw mini-basketballs, among other prizes, to the loudest people in attendance.

Late Night Madness occurs pre-season, so there is not a basketball game for attendees to watch. The event consists solely of games for students to participate in and several different food sponsors to keep them fed for free. Leo’s Late-Season relied more so on the basketball games themselves to entertain attendees, and free pizza from Dominos was given away. Games and activities occurred during half-time and between games.

In attendance was Tristain Hesser, freshman mechanical engineering major and pitcher for the baseball team. Hesser said that he typically does not go to any of the basketball games, but he went to this one because athletes were strongly encouraged by the Athletic Department to attend.

“This game is a little slower than the last one I went to, and I probably wouldn’t have come because I live in Dyer, but people seem like they’re having fun and the pizza is good,” Hesser said.

Mike Carnaham, senior mechanical engineering technology major and pitcher for the baseball team, has been to a few more games than Hesser and said that the attendance was more than the typical basketball game.

“I usually go to special games like Senior Night but not a lot of the normal games,” Carnaham said. “Compared to other games I have been to, this one is pretty fun.”