Senior League Concludes Season With Basketball And Fundraising Efforts
The Newtown Youth Basketball Association's (NYBA) Senior League, comprising high school students, completed its campaign with the girls' and boys' all star games and boys' championship contest, at Newtown High School, on March 16 (the girls' championship game took place on March 5). This night of basketball served as a fundraiser for the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, in honor of basketball parent Shelley Eppers (see related story
).
Team Roche defeated Team Mailloux 45-35 in the boys' championship game. Kyle Roche and Mike Cotton scored 15 and 12 points, respectively, and Brennan Mayer added six in the win. Shane Demers dropped in 15, and Ryan Mailloux scored six in the defeat.
In the boys' all star game, Team Roche defeated Team Pirone 87-51. Team Roche comprises Kyle Roche, Matt Gerbo, Tristan Crone, Ryan Patrick, Grant Moxham, Harry Eppers, Luke Melillo, Dan Mason James Schumacher, and Shane Demers. Team Pirone team members are Jake Pirone, Robert Murray, Ryan Kost, Ryan Williams, Dylan Sock, Thomas Skreljia, Bobby Elston, Tucker Garrity, Ryan Berard, and Griffin Cross.
The girls' all star game was won by the Blue team, which defeated the Sunshine Squad 48-33. Sarah Houle scored 18 points, Allie Paynter had ten, Vanessa Tucker eight, and Sienna Cummings six in the win. The Sunshine Squad got 12 from Carly Swierbut, six each from Ava Petrellese and Hayley Lambert, and five and four from Grace Corcoran and Allie Eurell, respectively.
There were halftime skills competitions. Although there was no winner of the Half Court Contest, Rory Edwards was the closest to making a basket. The Knockout Contest winner was Robert DiSibio, and Ben Harrison finished in second place. The 3-Point Contest winner was Kaitlyn King; finalists also included Olivia Oltran, Ryan Williams, and Kyle Chernoff.
Public address announcers for the games were Jackson Buchler, Jacob Rooney, AJ Salaris, and Wyatt Moyers, who added some comedy to the evening with light-hearted jabs at their classmates while they played out on the court.
Tyler Trede and Kyle Chernoff helped with halftime contests, which were led by Grant Moxham, Kyle Roche, and Cayden Dunn.
NYBA has more than 1,000 registered players, representing pre-K through high school, including 300 in the Senior League, which includes students from Immaculate High School in Danbury, Fairfield Prep, and St Joseph of Trumbull. The Senior League is supervised by adults with senior captains who run and manage their teams; the boys' league had 30 teams this year.