More than four dozen of the league’s top upperclassmen will be showcased during the Greater Middlesex Conference Basketball Coaches Association’s annual senior charity all-star doubleheader.
All proceeds from the event at Old Bridge High School on Thursday night will benefit The Marisa Tufaro Foundation.
The girls game tips off at 6 p.m. The boys game will begin at 7:30 p.m.
The all-star doubleheader has a decades-long tradition of giving back to the community and generating tens of thousands of dollars for numerous charitable causes including the American Cancer Society, Team LeGrand, the Christopher and Dana Reeves Foundation, the Gene Haley Memorial Scholarship Fund, Fightstrong Foundation, individuals in medical crisis, and others.
The Greater Middlesex Conference Basketball Coaches Association has been among The Marisa Tufaro Foundation’s biggest supporters, generating nearly $10,000 from five previous all-star doubleheaders benefiting the nonprofit. Basketball teams from the conference also turned the league’s pod tournament during the pandemic-shortened 2021 season into a fundraiser for the foundation.
“We are eternally grateful to the Greater Middlesex Conference Basketball Coaches Association for selecting our nonprofit as the beneficiary of this year’s all-star doubleheader,” said Cyndi Tufaro, executive director of The Marisa Tufaro Foundation.
“Our foundation has been blessed beyond words with incredible support from the entire conference, which has helped us make a profound impact on the lives of countless children in need.
“We congratulate the seniors who will represent their schools in the all-star doubleheader and wish them all the best in their future endeavors.”
Since its inception in July 2017, The Marisa Tufaro Foundation has donated $450,000 to fulfill its mission of assisting pediatric patients and children in need throughout the greater Middlesex County area.
The nonprofit has also donated thousands of toys, nonperishable food items, winter jackets, baby supplies, children’s books, school supplies, and other items upon which it has placed no monetary value.
In addition, The Marisa Tufaro Foundation has awarded $36,500 in academic scholarships to 50 Middlesex County high school seniors (basketball players are among those recipients) and sent 31 elementary and middle school students from Middlesex County to a weeklong summer art camp at Rutgers University’s Zimmerli Art Museum.
Marisa Tufaro survived six open-heart surgeries and a heart transplant before succumbing to a rare form of cancer in 2017 following a valiant battle. She was just 13 years old.
Despite being hospitalized for more than two years and maintaining hundreds of doctors’ appointments, Marisa Tufaro was an Edison Township Public Schools honor roll student involved in myriad extracurricular activities who lived a vibrant life that inspired.
Marisa is the daughter of former Home News Tribune and MyCentralJersey.com sportswriter Greg Tufaro and longtime Edison Township Public School educator Cyndi Tufaro.
GIRLS ALL-STARS
TEAM BLACK
Anilah Digss, Carteret
Layla Gutierrez, North Plainfield
Samantha Moench, South Plainfield
Izabella Pardo, Perth Amboy
Mia Pumarada, Mother Seton
Jenessa Raval, Woodbridge Magnet
Olivia River, South Amboy
Angel Smith, Woodbridge
Jiesha Sosa, New Brunswick
Trista Whitney, Saint Thomas Aquinas
Zoe Wilcher, Monroe
Alyssa Young, Middlesex
Coach: Amanda Berrios-German (Carteret)
TEAM WHITE
Julianna Delosantos Branson, East Brunswick
Shahd Elshamma, North Brunswick
Victoria Harmon, East Brunswick Magnet
Eva Hernandez, Piscataway Magnet
Nashaelah Hooker, Colonia
Angie Kearns, Edison
Payton Kmiec, Old Bridge
Ava Kohler, Highland Park
Kayla Navarro, Saint Thomas Aquinas
Alex Nault, Spotswood
Aaliyah Parks, South Brunswick
Victoria Zaniecki, Metuchen
Coach: Jill Bachonski (Colonia)
BOYS ALL-STARS
AMERICAN
Albion Ahmetaj, Saint Thomas Aquinas
Semir Tolbert Brimage, Spotswood
Kevin Burgman, South Brunswick
Shamar Burch, J.P. Stevens
Nfa Clyne, Colonia
Michai Coffee, New Brunswick
Cameron Hayes-Durina, Metuchen
Omari Hill, J.F. Kennedy
Sam Jones, Sayreville
Jacob Mendoza, Piscataway Magnet
Sebastian Ortiz, East Brunswick Magnet
Dheeraj Samparaboyina, Edison
Trayvon Smith, South Plainfield
Jadiel Vasquez, South Amboy
Camryn Vick, East Brunswick
Coaches: Mark Motusesky (East Brunswick) and Matt Wiater (South Amboy)
NATIONAL
Jeremiah Arrington, Carteret
Aidan Badger Timothy Christian
Emmanuel Cruz, Woodbridge
Jamael Davis, Dunellen
Donovan Escobar, Perth Amboy Magnet
Kyle Fernandes, Monroe
Justus French, Calvary Christian
Evangelos Kambitsis, Highland Park
Alijah Murphy, Saint Joseph
Donald Nwaigwe, Piscataway
Angel Rodriguez Reyes, North Brunswick
Julian Samuels, Middlesex
Yandel Suana, Perth Amboy
Cole Teresky, South River
Quadir Williams, North Plainfield
Coaches: Felix Romero (Perth Amboy Tech) and Mark Taylor (Saint Joseph)