The baskets on the court weren’t the only ones seeing action during midnight madness Monday morning at the Selma High School gym.

As Saints fans rolled in to get their first glance at the new hoops team, many also dropped canned goods into baskets and boxes at the entrance to benefit the Selma Salvation Army.

The generosity of those in attendance, Selma High School head basketball coach Woodie Jackson said, left him in awe.

“We had so many cans I was shocked when I came back there after the game,” said Jackson. “We had two big boxes and a grocery cart full. They had everything in there.”

The school hasn’t put an actual number on the can collection yet, but Salvation Army Major Tonya Roberts said she knows the full boxes will be very helpful as the holidays approach.

“It’s going to help us out a lot because we have already signed up 275 families for the Christmas program,” she said. “We have a lot of elderly people and families who don’t receive food stamps that come in, and this is going to help them.”

Last year, Roberts said more than 300 families received assistance from the holiday program. An additional signup day is already being planned for this year, she said.

The basketball team’s effort won’t end with midnight madness, Jackson said.

“We plan to keep the drive going through Thanksgiving,” he said. “We have a couple of home games throughout the month of November, so we want to encourage the fans to keep supporting this cause.”