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NILES — A pair of local high school basketball teams put on a show for the community Tuesday night.

Niles High School’s boys and girls basketball teams hosted its inaugural Viking Madness in the high school gymnasium.

The event gave friends, families and community members a chance to get to know both teams ahead of the upcoming  2022-23 winter sports season, and featured activities including a skills competition, a 3-point shooting contest and an inter-squad scrimmage made up of both boys and girls players.

“Engaging the community, that’s what it’s about and that’s what we set out to do,” said Niles boys coach Myles Busby. “When we wanted to try to build this program back up, you have to get your community back involved. We feel like that’s been missed. So it’s just fun a fun way to get people in the gym before we play next Tuesday.”

The boys team will open the season at 7:15 p.m Tuesday, Dec. 6 at home against South Bend Clay while the girls team will face Three Rivers at 7:15 p.m. Friday, Dec. 2 at Three Rivers.

“I’m glad that we’re able to have fun because we’re out there without each other and supporting the men’s team as well as each other,” said Niles girls coach Jessica Johnson. “I’m just happy they’re ready to show off some skills to the community and hopefully we can do this every year.”