Congratulations to the Unified Lions (1-0) for winning the Unified Sports Basketball game last night against the West Morris Mendham Minutemen (0-1) 54-34 in the first game of the season in a superb inclusive community event at North Hunterdon High School.
The Unified Lions started off like a ball of fire leading after the first quarter 16-12. The Halftime score the Lions led 26-14. The Unified Lions started pulling away after the third Quarter with the score being 40-26.
The Unified Lions worked their magic to pull away from the Minutemen with the Final score being 54-34.
As far as wonderful sportsmanship, the Lions had some players play on both teams to try to balance out the game.
The Unified Lions were led by #24 Sean (Shaq Diesel) Pettegrove who had 20 points; #31 (Iron) Malachi Tyson had 18 points and 3 rebounds and 6 steals; #9 Bettina (Bat Girl) Manasseri-Castro had 4 points (plus 8 points for the Minutemen); #8 Keith (Freight Train) Pannicke had 4 points and 2 rebounds; #42 Andrew (Superman) Heaney had 2 points (plus 2 points for the Minutemen); #6 Jamie (Luck of the Irish) Sullivan had 2 points (plus 4 points for the Minutemen); #30 Collin (Rewind the Tape) Tran had 4 points; #54 Will (The Big Deal) Acosta had 2 points to finish up the scoring for the Lions.
The Minutemen were led by #23 Gabe (The Mail Man) Mochen with 10 points and 1 rebound; #15 Abby (Alpha Centauri) Connolly had 6 points, 3 rebounds and 4 steals; #20 Brynn (The Big Ticket) Budnik had 2 points and #13 Alexa (Feed me the Rock) Fletcher 2 points and 2 rebounds; #35 Jake (Sultan of Swish) Sicknik had 1 rebound and 2 steals; #11 Annabelle (Buzzer Beater) Steinberg and #1 Aimee (Show me the $) Koby had 1 rebound apiece; Anna (Jewel of the Passaic) Prince had 1 steal.
Thanks to all the Coaches: Unified Lions: Head Coach-Garrett Lelko; Assistant Coach Chelsey Lindaberry. Unified Minutemen Staff: Head Coach: Matthew Milner; Assistant Coaches Rhiannon Van Orden and Robin Meyh.
Thanks to Mark Soltis for refereeing the game; Kristen Mandicz for Athletic Training and Ellen Anderson and Marielle Thorsen for working the scoreboard.
