Demon Deacon fans got a second look at the 2002-2003 men's basketball team in the annual Black/Gold Scrimmage in Reynolds Gym Saturday morning. Fans were treated to three hard-played, ten-minute scrimmages, their first glimpse of this year's team since Midnight Madness.

In the first game, the Gold team featured what many think could be the starting lineup, with the exception of injured Josh Howard: sophomore point guard Taron Downey, freshman guard Trent Strickland, sophomore forward Jamaal Levy, sophomore forward Vytas Danelius, and freshman center Eric Williams. In the second and third scrimmages, the coaches switched the teams up. The Gold squad, led by Head Coach Skip Prosser, usually featured the players who figure to get the most playing time this year. The Gold team won all three matches, by scores of 31-11, 20-9, and 21-19.

The Black/Gold Scrimmage showcased the team's youth, as seniors Howard and Steve Lepore sat with injuries. Downey and Levy were spectacular, as well as freshmen guards Strickland and Richard Joyce.

Downey was a dominating presence at the point for the Gold squad all morning, racking up 17 points (including three from beyond the arc), seven assists, and three steals.

"I have to be the second coach on the court," Downey said. "It's kind of fun, but it's a learning experience also, because last year I didn't have any say, I hardly ever talked, because I had two seniors in front of me playing. But this year I'm opening up more and so it's very fun for me right now, I'm just enjoying being a leader."

The last of his points came from a buzzer-beater in the final game, giving the Gold squad a two-point victory, and exciting the crowd. Downey also was part of the another highlight-reel-play towards the beginning of the second scrimmage. After a nice steal, Downey made a great behind-the-back-dribble move, and threw an alley-oop to Levy.

Levy scored 10 points and collected nine rebounds. He was also impressive on defense, racking up four steals, and consistently disrupting the Black team's offense.

"Jamaal played well defensively," Prosser said.

"I'm just trying to be active on defense and offense," Levy said. "I just try to deny and contest every shot."

The game's high scorer, however, was freshman guard Trent Strickland, who scored 20 points, and looked comfortable playing the first scrimmage as part of what could be the starting five for the Deacs. Strickland also had three steals and one block.

Freshman guard Richard Joyce had fans conjuring up memories of three-point bomber Craig Dawson, one of the most prolific shooters from beyond the arc in ACC history, who graduated last year.

Joyce dropped three trifectas in the first two minutes of the third scrimmage, giving him 14 points overall, including four total three-pointers.

Freshmen Chris Ellis, Justin Gray, and Eric Williams also were impressive. Ellis tallied 12 points, while Gray scored nine and Williams added eight. Williams also had four rebounds, and Gray had two assists.

Fans were not, however, completely deprived of players they recognized from last season. Danelius, who along with Downey started some games as a freshman last year, got the crowd excited in warm-ups with some spectacular alley-oops, and then was his usual productive self in the games.

The second-year Lithuanian looked good with the starting unit in the first scrimmage, and also played well in the third match, when he was the only upper-class scholarship player on the Black squad. Danelius finished the morning with 15 points and seven rebounds.

Junior center Dshamal Schoetz looked good after sitting out last season with a knee injury. Schoetz knocked down two baseline jumpers in the third scrimmage for four points.

As for the seniors, the Deacs are optimistic. Howard participated in warm-up drills with the team but did not play in the scrimmages.

"Josh is hopefully going from week-to-week to day-to-day," Prosser said.

Lepore was in uniform and stretched with the team, but did not take part in the team's warm-ups."Steve is probably still a ways off (from returning to play)," Prosser said. He added, however, that the team has not ruled out the possibility of having Lepore available for the start of the season.