SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Eighteen Southern Conference teams descended on Asheville, North Carolina, for the recently concluded Ingles Southern Conference Basketball Championships presented by General Shale Brick, and along with them came some annual community events and a new initiative involving Buncombe County Schools.
 
The Southern Conference and Eblen Charities continued to team up for the Hoops Against Hunger program, which provides awareness to help combat childhood hunger. Through the annual Hoops Against Hunger hotel food drive, more than 1,000 food items and packed boxes were collected to take to the Buncombe County Resource Center at Enka Middle School.
 
VMI successfully defended its title in the Ingles SoCon Mascot Challenge, with nearly 2,800 fans voting for the Keydets’ mascot, Moe. Ingles will donate $1,000 to VMI’s athletics scholarship fund as well another $1,000 to Hoops Against Hunger on behalf of the school.
 
While the annual Education Days initiatives around the first two days of the tournament were unable to be conducted as usual due to the COVID pandemic, 10 Buncombe County schools adopted SoCon schools to cheer on throughout the tournament: Haw Creek Elementary (The Citadel), Avery's Creek Elementary (ETSU), Emma Elementary (Furman), Enka Intermediate (Mercer), Leicester Elementary (UNC Greensboro), Candler Elementary (Samford), West Buncombe Elementary (Chattanooga), Black Mountain Elementary (VMI), Johnston Elementary (Western Carolina), and North Buncombe Elementary (Wofford). Videos of those schools cheering for their adopted SoCon squads played on the videoboards at Harrah’s Cherokee Center Asheville throughout the tournament.
 
The SoCon’s other community engagement initiatives are scheduled to return in 2022, including the Downtown Dribble, the Ingles SoCon Fan Experience, Hometown Heroes Night, the SoCon Teddy Bear Toss and the annual Mission Children’s Hospital mascot visit.
 
“What makes this tournament so special is that it is a community event that engages the city and gives back to help the needs of others,” SoCon Commissioner Jim Schaus said. “We are thankful to all of the organizations who partner together to make a difference.”