{"id":32385,"date":"2026-02-24T20:23:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T01:23:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nhvweb.net\/nhhs\/home\/?p=32385"},"modified":"2026-02-27T13:13:29","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T18:13:29","slug":"game-story-unified-basketball-game-vs-staff-2-24-26","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nhvweb.net\/nhhs\/home\/game-story-unified-basketball-game-vs-staff-2-24-26\/","title":{"rendered":"Game-Story-Unified-Basketball-game-vs-Staff-2-24-26. Final Score Unified Lions 78 and North Staff 64."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The atmosphere was electric at the <\/span>beautiful<\/strong> North Hunterdon H.S.<\/b> main gym for the annual <\/span>Unified Basketball game<\/b> vs. the North Staff. Before the tip-off, the crowd honored the seniors during a moving ceremony accompanied by Mrs. Byron handed out roses as the seniors walked out with their families.<\/span><\/p>\n

The seniors shared their favorite memories: <\/span>Andrew “Brick House” Baucom (Unified)<\/b> loved watching his teammates celebrate after scoring; <\/span>Elsa “The Elsa-Vator” Boyer (Unified)<\/b> cherished laughing with friends on the bus; <\/span>SaraBeth “Beth Mode” Bradley (Unified)<\/b> enjoyed simply making memories with the team; and <\/span>Sylvia “Bella Baller” Buccini (Unified)<\/b> will never forget the team huddles. <\/span>Mackenzie “The Mack Zone” Gilbert (Unified)<\/b> mentioned she loves hearing everyone\u2019s nicknames; <\/span>Carly “Xena Warrior Princess” Moore (Unified)<\/b> recalled her basket against West Morris; and <\/span>Marisol “Magic Time” Moreno (Unified)<\/b> highlighted the stretching circles led by her teammate <\/span>Sean (Shaq Diesel) Pettegrove<\/b>. <\/span>Meredith “Nuzzo-Matic” Nuzzo (Unified)<\/b>, <\/span>Lucy “Sklar-Y Night” Sklar (Unified)<\/b>, and <\/span>Amber “Wronkskinator” Wronski (Unified)<\/b> all looked back fondly on the Ridge games, while <\/span>Sean “Shaq Diesel” Pettegrove (Unified)<\/b> remembered dancing at the Unified Club. Finally, <\/span>Colin “Rewind The Tape” Tran (Unified)<\/b> noted how much he loved being with his friends during sports. \u200bMichael (Rock Star) Kotran<\/b> performed the National Anthem in perfect form! Great job!<\/span><\/p>\n

The <\/span>Unified Lions<\/b>, led by <\/span>Head Coach Garrett “Lel-Goat” Lelko (Unified)<\/b>, came out firing. <\/span>Sean “Shaq Diesel” Pettegrove (Unified)<\/b> was unstoppable, racking up <\/span>24 points and 3 rebounds<\/b>. He was supported by a balanced attack, including <\/span>10 points<\/b> each from <\/span>Aliya “A-Train” Bello (Unified)<\/b>, <\/span>Maria “Storm” Sousa (Unified)<\/b>, and <\/span>Will “The Big Deal” Acosta (Unified)<\/b>. <\/span>Jamie “Luck of the Irish” Sullivan (Unified)<\/b> also contributed 8 points to the early lead.<\/span><\/p>\n

The <\/span>North Staff<\/b>, coached by <\/span>Jake “The Big Dog” Ruscher (Staff)<\/b>, tried to keep pace. <\/span>Kyle “Feed Me The Rock” Rehrig (Staff)<\/b> led his team with <\/span>17 points including (5) three point shots<\/b>, while <\/span>Nicole “North Star” Meister (Staff)<\/b> added <\/span>14 points<\/b>. <\/span>Ashley “Smooth As Silk” Post (Staff)<\/b> and <\/span>Meghan “Shake N Bake” Plaxe (Staff)<\/b> controlled the boards with 8 rebounds and 6 points, but the Lions’ speed was too much. At halftime, the Unified team led <\/span>48-21<\/b>. During the break, the <\/span>North Hunterdon Dance Team<\/b>\u2014led by coaches Megan Harty\/Hope Kiel. This past weekend, the North Hunterdon Dance Team competed at the (New Jersey Cheerleading and Dance Coaches Association State Competition and placed third in Varsity Pom and third in Varsity Jazz. They also placed 2nd in jazz routine at Hillsborough competition on January 25th. – wowed the crowd with their performance.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the second half, the Staff saw contributions from <\/span>Mike “V-Train” Vellucci (Staff)<\/b>, <\/span>RJ “Cool Hand Hoops” Calabrese (Staff)<\/b>, and <\/span>Chris “Buzzer Beater” Link (Staff)<\/b>, each scoring 4 points. <\/span>Summer “Se\u00f1ora Hoopla” Morris (Staff) hit a trey<\/b>, <\/span>Cheyenne “Show Stopper” Young (Staff)<\/b> and <\/span>Amy “Air Time” Attanasio (Staff)<\/b> also added 2 points each to the tally. However, the Lions remained dominant with baskets from <\/span>Bettina “Bat Girl” Manasseri-Castro (Unified) <\/b>and <\/span>Elena “Supernova” Plaza (Unified) 4 points each<\/b>, and <\/span>Sophia “Phi-Slamma-Soph” Moushon (Unified) 4 rebounds<\/b>. The game ended in a <\/span>78-64 victory for the Unified Lions<\/b>.<\/span><\/p>\n

The night concluded with a massive <\/span>80th Birthday Celebration for Dave \u201cThe Rave\u201d Robbins<\/b>, a NHHS Athletic Hall and Special Olympics Hall of famer with over <\/span>88 Special Olympics medals<\/b>. <\/span>Steve Hartman and CBS News: On the Road with Steve Hartman <\/a><\/span><\/b>were on hand to capture the moment as <\/span>Mayor of Clinton, Janice Kovach<\/a><\/span><\/b> and <\/span>Councilwoman Molly Padmos<\/span><\/a><\/b> presented a proclamation for Dave. Thanks to friend of Dave’s family Sean Rogan along with Dave’s Barber (Sal) and employer got the ball rolling with Steve Hartman producers to grab this heart felt Dave \u201cThe Rave\u201d Robbins<\/b> story. It was a perfect ending for a man famous for his <\/span>backward, over-the-head halftime shots, net football catches <\/b>and his unwavering “Lions Pride”<\/strong><\/span>. Happy 80th Birthday buddy!!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Thanks to Marielle (Swallow the whistle) Thorsen<\/strong> and Justin (T-Me-Up) Matisak<\/strong> for refereeing a great game; medical coverage by Kristen (Ice Queen) Mandicz<\/strong> and scoreboard operations by Ellen (Broadway Show) Anderson<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Click\u00a0<\/span>HERE<\/span><\/a>\u00a0to review the slideshow details and characters playing and performing at the game.\u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

Click\u00a0<\/span>HERE<\/span><\/a> to review the game statistics.\u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

Click\u00a0<\/span>HERE<\/span><\/a> to review Dave “The Rave” Robbins Facebook post from Sean Rogan.<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The atmosphere was electric at the beautiful North Hunterdon H.S. main gym for the annual Unified Basketball game vs. the North Staff. Before the tip-off, the crowd honored the seniors during a moving ceremony accompanied by Mrs. Byron handed out roses as the seniors walked out with their families. The seniors shared their favorite memories: […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":175,"featured_media":30673,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,5],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-32385","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-north-news","8":"category-top-news","9":"entry","10":"override"},"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.nhvweb.net\/nhhs\/home\/files\/2024\/01\/Unified-Hoops.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-29 19:18:43","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nhvweb.net\/nhhs\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32385","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nhvweb.net\/nhhs\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nhvweb.net\/nhhs\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nhvweb.net\/nhhs\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/175"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nhvweb.net\/nhhs\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32385"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/www.nhvweb.net\/nhhs\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32385\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32460,"href":"https:\/\/www.nhvweb.net\/nhhs\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32385\/revisions\/32460"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nhvweb.net\/nhhs\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30673"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nhvweb.net\/nhhs\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nhvweb.net\/nhhs\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nhvweb.net\/nhhs\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}