BOONE, N.C. - Fans packed Varsity Gym on Appalachian's campus Thursday evening for the ninth-annual Mountaineer Madness preseason event.

Both Jason Capel's men's team and Darcie Vincent's team interacted with Appalachian State University basketball fans, signing autographs and shooting hoops at the venerable arena. Some of the young ASU fans even challenged their favorite players to games of one-on-one.

The squads signed hundreds of autographs and young Mountaineer fans took home plenty of candy following an evening of Trick-or-Treating and playing both on the court and with the inflatable play areas.

ASU's cheerleaders, dance teams and other campus groups were on hand to pass out candy to the costumed young fans. The groups also set up some of the crowd's favorite tailgate games while a DJ played music for the crowd throughout the evening.

The Mountaineer women return to action on Saturday for an 11 a.m. exhibition against Mars Hill at the Holmes Center, while the men's squad plays an exhibition on Nov. 3 against Lenoir-Rhyne.

Both teams officially open the 2011-12 campaign on Nov. 11.