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THE OFFICIAL ATHLETIC SITE OF THE CICERO-NORTH SYRACUSE NORTHSTARS

THE OFFICIAL ATHLETIC SITE OF THE CICERO-NORTH SYRACUSE NORTHSTARS
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CNS Unified vs ESM CNS Unified vs ESM
CNS Unified vs ESM
Photo Credit: Dennis Nett
CNS Unified vs ESM CNS Unified vs ESM
CNS Unified vs ESM
Photo Credit: Dennis Nett
CNS Unified vs ESM CNS Unified vs ESM
CNS Unified vs ESM
Photo Credit: Dennis Nett
CNS Unified vs ESM CNS Unified vs ESM
CNS Unified vs ESM
Photo Credit: Dennis Nett
CNS Unified vs ESM CNS Unified vs ESM
CNS Unified vs ESM
Photo Credit: Dennis Nett
CNS Unified vs ESM CNS Unified vs ESM
CNS Unified vs ESM
Photo Credit: Dennis Nett
CNS Unified vs ESM CNS Unified vs ESM
CNS Unified vs ESM
Photo Credit: Dennis Nett
CNS Unified vs ESM CNS Unified vs ESM
CNS Unified vs ESM
Photo Credit: Dennis Nett
CNS Unified vs ESM CNS Unified vs ESM
CNS Unified vs ESM
Photo Credit: Dennis Nett
CNS Unified vs ESM CNS Unified vs ESM
CNS Unified vs ESM
Photo Credit: Dennis Nett
CNS Unified vs ESM CNS Unified vs ESM
CNS Unified vs ESM
Photo Credit: Dennis Nett
CNS Unified vs ESM CNS Unified vs ESM
CNS Unified vs ESM
Photo Credit: Dennis Nett
CNS Unified vs ESM CNS Unified vs ESM
CNS Unified vs ESM
Photo Credit: Dennis Nett
CNS Unified vs ESM CNS Unified vs ESM
CNS Unified vs ESM
Photo Credit: Dennis Nett
CNS Unified vs ESM CNS Unified vs ESM
CNS Unified vs ESM
Photo Credit: Dennis Nett
CNS Unified vs ESM CNS Unified vs ESM
CNS Unified vs ESM
Photo Credit: Dennis Nett
CNS Unified vs ESM CNS Unified vs ESM
CNS Unified vs ESM
Photo Credit: Dennis Nett

Unified Basketball and Bowling Lindsay Kramer

C-NS hosts ESM in Unified basketball game; Halftime contest steals show

Cicero-North Syracuse may have had its game against East Syracuse Minoa in hand Wednesday afternoon, but the most exciting finish came at halftime.  That's when teammates Sami Cooper and Tyler Piagentini squared off in a friendly race — one shooting, the other maneuvering obstacles — that ended with a buzzer-beating finish of its own.  Cooper had to sink three shots from inside the key before Piagentini weaved his wheelchair through cones the width of the court and back while balancing a basketball on his lap.  Piagentini crossed the finish line just a blink before Cooper sank her third bucket.  "He loves this," said Piagentini's mother, Mary Garnsey. "He loves being around all the kids. He loves that everybody works to find something that he can do, even though he can't be out there dribbling and shooting at the same time."  Last year, Cooper, 17, needed knee surgery. She temporarily used a wheelchair during her recovery and bonded with Piagentini.  "And so they kind of found a friendship through the shared connection of both being in a wheelchair. And I think that Tyler really found comfort in having someone else who was in a wheelchair that just wasn't him," said Lexi Cooper, Sami's sister and one of the founders of C-NS Unified ball. "And so they started a kind of friendly rivalry contest."    Sami no longer needs a wheelchair and plays with the Northstars. But the friends still wanted to maintain their competition. So they tried the idea of Piagentini trying to complete the course while Cooper attempts her shots.  The challenge of keeping a ball balanced on his lap was an added twist for Piagentini.   "They came up with something that he could do and that was a skill, get him to push with his hands (racing)," Garnsey said. "But also the coordination of holding the ball on his lap, which has been pretty difficult for him. And he's doing really well this year. So that was kind of getting the skills together, and it was a little bit easier than shooting for him, I think."   Cooper, too, is always up for the challenge.   "Sami is very quiet, typically. She's always smiling. She's very sweet. Sweet and kind," Lexi said. "But she has a competitive side to her, and I think she kind of gets that from me a little bit. But whenever she and Tyler go at it, that competitive side comes out a little bit.    "We have a basketball hoop in the driveway, and she'll go out there and practice sometimes. She's always talking about it, always talking about their competition and their little rivalry. They'll FaceTime all the time."   C-NS coach Eric Smith estimated that the competition between the two has produced a roughly 50-50 split in the win column,   "They've built a friendship over the course of many years leading up to this," Smith said. "Tyler's gone against several different people. But in the last two years, the friendship that he has with Sammy has flourished. And they can banter back and forth and they can have a little healthy competition against one another."   When he's not racing, Piagentini stays involved as an unofficial assistant, marking up the roster to make it easier for the game announcer to quickly recognize names and for Smith to stick to substitution patterns.    "He asked me the day the year ends, make sure you send me the roster for next year, so he can color-code them all for both teams. Both our white and blue teams," Smith said. "So he takes care of all that, arranges them all, keeps us all in line. He's the assistant coach on the team for sure."   It turns out that the halftime competition didn't completely settle the latest chapter of the rivalry. Smith said every time Cooper loses, she has to do three pushups.   Wednesday, Cooper quickly ran off to join the Northstars softball players for an intermission dance set to "Baby Shark." And really, who could blame her for that?   But before Cooper left after the game, after her team's 33-22 win, Smith reminded her of her debt.   "The other day she did it. I think she went straight to the dance party [Wednesday]," Smith said. "So we got to make sure we catch her."   Smith then turned to Piagentini.   "You get her pushups like on Monday, right?" he said. "I'm sure you'll make her do them tomorrow."
 
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