The players on the gray team call themselves the San Antonio Spurs and the players on the blue team call themselves the Oklahoma City Thunder. The YMCA youth players aren’t in the NBA yet, but by learning some of the fundamentals early on, some of them could be well on their way to a successful basketball career.

The YMCA of Selma-Dallas County’s youth basketball league hosted games for its teams Saturday morning. The schedule concluded with two fifth and sixth grade games.

The Spurs opened up with a 35-17 victory over the Thunder, while the black team closed out the day’s action by rolling past the green team 31-11.

In the first game, Frederico Tyre Jr. of the Spurs was on a roll. Even with a rotating lineup that gives each player a fair chance to playing time, Tyre still managed to score 20 points, including one 3-pointer.

Much of Tyre’s points came on fastbreak layups, which was due to the Spurs being aggressive on defense and tenacious on the boards.

“As long as you play good defense and rebound and run the fast break, that’s a recipe for success,” said Spurs head coach Jerry Armstead.

Other standouts for the Spurs were Tyler Morgan who scored four points and Osagie Aghedo, tallied eight points and accounted for several rebounds.

Omarion Simpson also added a 3-pointer for San Antonio.

The Spurs got out to a quick lead, starting out 21-0, but the Thunder came roaring back.

Brenton Oliver and Allen Creech led the way for Oklahoma City, as they each scored seven points. Oliver and Zion Small each hit a 3-pointer in the game, with Small’s coming as the buzzer sounded at the end of the third quarter to make the score 28-13 in favor of the Spurs.

Ultimately, the lead the Spurs built early on in the game was too much for the Thunder to overcome, and San Antonio came out of Saturday’s came victorious.

Black team 31, green team 11

The black team got everyone involved in the scoring in a 20-point win over the green team in the final game at the YMCA Saturday.

Sean King led the way for the black team with eight points, including two 3-pointers. The black team also had strong contributions from Derrick Edwards Jr. and Calvin Griffin, who each scored six points.

Black team head coach Javaris Brewer said the strength of his team is the ability to be unselfish and pass the ball when needed.

“We’ve got a pretty good team,” Brewer said. “They play together.”

Brewer said the strong communication between his players was instrumental in the victory, especially in a game in which many different players were getting the chance to play.

Green team coach Alvin Barnett said he knew his team was outmatched before the game started, but he encouraged his team to fight and try to persevere even when the score made it appear that a comeback was unlikely.

Still, he said each game can serve as a learning tool for his players.

“This is a lesson,” Barnett said. “Now is the time to actually learn the game.”

MaMarvion Jones was the main scorer for the green team. He posted nine points, including a 3-pointer to close out the first quarter. Shakedra Hunt also got in the scoring column, adding a two-point shot that got the crowd excited.

Although it was in a losing effort, the green team coaches said the most valuable lesson the players can learn from this game is to never give up no matter what the circumstances.

“I wasn’t going to pull anybody off the court and allow them to quit because hey, that’s not what we’re here for,” Barnett said.