By Rob Potter
GRAHAMSVILLE — March 17, 2006 – Even an unplanned 24-hour delay could not stop dozens of members of the Tri-Valley Central School community from attending two basketball games while simultaneously supporting a worthy cause.
On Saturday night, T-V students, teachers, staff members, administators and parents filled the school’s gymnasium for the annual Bear Cub Basketball Program’s “Moving-Up Game” and a hoops contest between the T-V Alumni Team and the T-V Faculty/Staff Team.
The two contests were originally slated to be held on Friday night, but a late-afternoon power outage in the Grahamsville area forced school officials to move the games to Saturday evening.
All proceeds from the event benefitted the Amy Paes Memorial Scholarship Fund.
During the 2002-2003 school year, Paes was a fifth-grade student in the T-V district and a member of one of the Bear Cub basketball teams. Sadly, she passed away in the summer of 2003 following a battle with cancer.
The event organizers noted that Paes’ classmates will graduate in June 2010. Therefore, they plan to hold Amy Paes Memorial Scholarship Fund basketball games each March in an effort to raise money for the scholarship. They would like to present two scholarships – one to a boy and one to a girl – at the T-V commencement ceremony in June 2010.
A total of 48 sixth-graders from the district’s Bear Cub Basketball Program played in the “Moving-Up Game.” From January through mid-March, approximately 180 boys and girls in second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth grades participated in Bear Cub practices and games on Friday nights and Saturdays at the school. To mark their “moving-up” from the Bear Cub Program, four dozen sixth-graders were chosen by a committee to participate in Saturday night’s contest.
Because this year’s T-V sixth-grade class is larger those of previous years, the Bear Cub coaches decided to divide the game into three 11-minute quarters. In the first two quarters, the boys on the two teams competed on the court. Then in the third quarter, the girls from the two squads played.
In the first quarter, the White Team outscored the Blue Team, 6-2. But in the second period, the Blue Team held an 11-2 advantage.
During the third quarter, Blue outscored White, 12-1.
Serving as Coaches for the Blue Team were Chris McInerney, John Monforte and Brian Tingley. The players included: Sierra Arroyo, Rachel Adriaans, Brianna Bobik, Dustin Brackman, Hope Costa, Dylan Couturier, John Dailey, David Donovan, Fred Dumond, Daniel Lederman, Tyler Lopez, Van Malone, Shawn Markle, Steven McInerney, John Monforte, Charlie Polanco, Christian Reynolds, Troy Rossi, Sarah Schneyer, Erin Smith, Greg Swarthout, Ashlee Tompkins, Connor Walsh and Samantha Whipple.
Serving as Coaches for the White Team were Gary Buley and Scott Mickelson. The players included: Scott Ansbro, Anthony Beale, Brandon Bobik, Stephen Bobik, Curtis Brock, Jimmy Bernstein, Amber Buley, Oliva Castle, Muteeb Chaudary, Dominique Darby, Michael DeVault, Caitlyn DeVito, Jon Edwards, Michelle Edwards, Julian Giaimo, Jordan Kearns, Jessica Lee, Joey Mickelson, Tommy Monforte, Purav Patel, Kylee Porter, Rafael Ramirez, Brittney Rennison and Jackie Wallace.
In the second game of the evening, the T-V Alumni grabbed an early lead and did not surrender it. Less than a minute into the contest, J.R. Rennison, a 2004 graduate, swished a shot from beyond the 19-foot, 9-inch arc to give the Alumni squad a 3-0 advantage. Rennison and John Hamilton, a member of the T-V Class of 1984, keyed the alumni squad’s scoring run in those opening 10 minutes.
Heading into the second period, the Alumni held a 29-7 lead over the Faculty/Staff team.
Faced with a 52-25 deficit at halftime, the Faculty/Staff squad made a comeback attempt in the final two quarters. Leading the charge was John Tenbus, who has been Assistant Coach of the T-V Bears’ varsity boys’ basketball team for the past few seasons. He scored several baskets inside the lane in the third and fourth periods and finished the evening with a team-high 20 points.
But in the end, the Alumni team posted a 105-65 victory.
The Coach of the T-V Alumni Team was Bob Ackerley. Members of the team included: Ted DeGraw (Class of 2004), Julie Donovan (2003), Eli Felder (2004), John Hamilton (1984), Brett Hyde (2005), Kevin Krom (1976), April Nash (2000), J.R. Rennison (2004) and Corey Roberts (1997).
After helping to guide the White Team in the Bear Cub Moving Up game, Scott Mickelson returned to the court as the Player/Coach for the T-V Faculty/Staff Team. Members of the team, who are listed with the year they graduated from high school – although not necessarily from T-V – included: Greg Botsford (1993), Karlton Duck (1979), Maurice Galant (1995), Becky Piechuta (1999), Phil Pompeii (1974), Jim Rennison (1979), Jerry Stevens (1983), John Tenbus (1998), Brian Tingley (1983), Cory Turner (1997) and Rob Worden (1985).
On this evening, however, the final scores of the two games were secondary to having fun and raising money for the Amy Paes Memorial Scholarship Fund.
“We raised about $1,000 tonight,” Scott Mickelson said. “And everyone seemed to have a good time.”
He noted that in addition to the coaches and players, several other people worked to make the annual event successful yet again. They included: Dan Hendrickson and Tom Young, who were the referees for the Alumni vs. Faculty/Staff game; Ryan Ansbro, Kaylie Ackerley and Janet Dymond, who were the officials for the Bear Cub game; Faith Dymond and Cindy Mickelson, who sold game tickets at the door as well as 50/50 raffle tickets during the evening; and Sean McNamara, who served as the emcee for both basketball games.