In a basketball court on NIU’s campus, players engage in intense competition — dunks rock the rims, players swat shots and a crowd reacts to each highlight.

But the games don’t feature the NIU basketball team and its scholarship athletes. And Chick Evans Field House doesn’t host the games.

Instead, players gather at the Office of Campus Recreation for highly-competitive intramural hoops, where the game-play accentuates the spirit of the sport that has had athletes hooked for more than a century. Former high school players, street ballers, former collegiate athletes play not for a million dollar NBA contract or an NCAA tournament bid or for a State Championship. They play to compete and to celebrate the fun and tradition of putting a round ball into an iron hoop.

Now one of the most widely participated in extracurricular events at NIU, intramural basketball has attracted a diverse following that varies in ethnicity, age, talent, level and skill.

“One night we had 150-200 fans here,” said intramural coordinator Amy Fawcett. “There’s guys there that can do some absolutely phenomenal things.”

In both the fall and spring semesters, 84 teams battle for three weeks in more than 150 games each season. Skill level divides the teams into competitive and highly competitive.

In the highly-competitive games, the competition gets fierce. Players get in each others’ faces, trash talk and engage in physical play. A few players played collegiate basketball, including former NIU guard Ephraim Eaddy. But more players played four years of prep basketball, including NIU point guard Morgan Thompson, a former guard from Richards High School. He says that some of the highly competitive intramural players have the skill to play on the NIU men’s team.

“It’s like a Big Ten college atmosphere here,” Thompson said.

Freshman Art Education Major Kris Calnese and his Demons reached the semifinals of the highly competitive bracket. With his squad down by double digits late in the game, Calnese whipped the ball down the court in frustration after fouling out.

“I’m very competitive,” explains Calnese, a former Thornton High School player. “I hate to lose. That’s how everybody feels. They go all out.”

The battles take place in the rec’s new fieldhouse located in the south end of the building. Crowd echoes from the games often will be heard throughout the rec. Calnese says the large group of fans that gather at championship games hypes up the intensity of the contests.

“Everyone plays to the crowd,” he said. “Everybody gets hyped up because there are 100 people watching.”

Fawcett said each year more teams come out to participate, and as players with a competitive nature continue to make their way to NIU, students can expect to see intramural basketball only get more popular.

“It’s just a group of guys who get together and compete,” Thompson said. “Everyone wants to find out who’s better.”