The Batavia High School Boys Varsity Basketball team has claimed the Hoops for Hope title in the second year of the tournament which was held at GCC and Batavia High School on Saturday. Batavia won 63-53. Area JV and Varsity girls and boys teams participated as well, including the Lockport Lady Lions JV squad.
BHS Boys Basketball Coach Buddy Brasky initiated the start of the tournament last year after approaching Mark and Laurie Napoleone of the Michael Napoleone Foundation. Brasky had missed playing crosstown rival Notre Dame on a yearly basis, so after talking to the then new boys JV basketball coach, Dave Pero, the event was created.
Link to previous story: https://videonewsservice.net/index.php/2024/01/27/batavia-notre-dame-rivalry-renewed-at-hoops-for-hope-games/
Pero is a graduate of Notre Dame H.S. and he is related to the Napoleones ( The Michael Napoleone Memorial Foundation (michaelshope.org)
This year, the event was a little bigger with 8 Boys and Girls JV/Varsity teams playing all day, along with 5th and 6th grade teams from Batavia and St. Joseph’s School playing during half time. Each player received a warm-up, and sponsors helped with additional support along with donations for a 50/50 raffle, basket raffles and program ads.
“We got a great crowd,” says Laurie Napoleone of the Michael Napoleone Foundation.
“Any funds we make go to our mission to lend a hand of hope. Our first priority is to help families with a pediatric cancer diagnosis, the second is we give youth grants to sports programs. The third is we also provide monies for pediatric cancer research.”
The Michael Napoleone Memorial Foundation Board of Directors thanks the event program sponsors, those who donated food and drinks for concessions, teams/team moms, coaches, officials, scorekeepers and volunteers for helping make the event a success.
