Tartans Partner With East Catholic Youth Teams

(PITTSBURGH, Pa.) – On Saturday, October 11 members of the Carnegie Mellon University men's basketball team attended the East Catholic Youth Boys Basketball Midnight Madness event at East Catholic Grade School.  Midnight Madness 2014 was the second year the event was held.

The event served as a kick off to the East Catholic boys basketball season and featured a dunk contest with prizes to get the kids excited to get back to playing basketball.

"Midnight Madness was great year one, but even bigger and better this year with the addition of the guest dunk contest featuring members of the CMU men's basketball team," said Mike Brush, East Catholic Boys Basketball Director and Varsity Boys Head Coach.  "The kids absolutely loved their participation and we look forward to continuing a relationship with CMU by bringing our boys and girls teams to another Tartan game this season."

The partnership between Carnegie Mellon men's basketball and the East Catholic program began in 2014 when the boys program attended a Tartans collegiate basketball game and members of the Tartans served as assistant coaches once the college season was over.

"Being able to give back to the community as part of the CMU basketball team is always something we enjoy as a team," said senior player Matt Loebbaka.  "Plus, getting to see a teammate put on a show in the dunk contest was an added bonus."

In addition to the dunk contest, the Tartans interacted with the kids during small sided games, building relationships that will continue as Carnegie Mellon will welcome the boys and girls to a game in the late winter.

"The kids brought a lot of excitement to the event and I'm glad we were able to be a part of that," said junior Jason Sebak of the Carnegie Mellon men's basketball team.

The men's basketball team will begin practices October 15, and have their first competition Saturday, November 15 at Pitt-Greensburg.