The Selma Fire Department is good at putting out fires, but the department’s basketball team couldn’t extinguish the Selma Police Department’s hot shooting Thursday night in the annual charity basketball game between the departments.

The police closed the game on an 11-2 run, stunning the fire department 44-41 at Meadowview Christian School. The fire department had dominated the rivalry for so long that it’s hard to find somebody that remembers the last time the police actually won.

Now, for the first time in a long, long time, it’s the police with the bragging rights.

“This win right here is for old and new,” said Marqueis Neely with the Selma Police Department.

The game was competitive and came down to the final seconds, but the biggest winner on the night were area children. The police and fire departments played the game as a toy drive. All of the toys collected will be given out during the Selma PAL Center Christmas party Thursday.

“This gives us a good reason to present ourselves to the citizens that we protect and serve,” said Daron Waters with the Selma Fire Department. “A lot of people, they don’t understand what we go through and how we do things, but this gives us a time to show that we are fun, show the kids that we are OK to hang around and be around and that’s it’s OK to talk to us and it’s OK to interact with us. It also gives us a time where we give back to the city, more than we already give.”

The price of admission was a donation or a toy and a box near the entrance was full of toys that had been collected. Det. Dorothy Cowan with the police department said she had received multiple calls Monday from people who asked her to come pick up more toys.

She said any other toys people want to donate can be dropped off at the PAL Center, located at 145 College Drive. The PAL Center gives out toys to children 14 and under.

“You’d be surprised because it doesn’t matter what it is. They just love the fact they are getting a toy and that someone is giving them something for Christmas,” Cowan said of the children. “It’s a good feeling to see them, how excited they are, when they get it.”

Those in attendance helped out a good cause, but they also had to feel like they got their money’s worth.

The game was competitive throughout, with the fire department taking a 32-27 lead into the half. James Murphy made four first half 3-pointers to give the fire department the lead, but cooled down in the second half.

Murphy said it’s the first time the fire department has beaten the police department since his first year on the fire department — 1995.

“Twenty plus years without winning, I think that’s kind of long,” Murphy said with a laugh.

Neely said the police department did have to pick up several players that aren’t on its staff, including one former officer and two that are potential officers. He did say everybody that played had come through the PAL Center.

“It’s not like strangers coming off the street,” Neely said. “They are known to be with the police department, they are with the PAL Center.”

Neely made a jump shot that gave the police department the lead for good at 42-41. The fire department had numerous chances to tie, including a heave from Murphy in the final seconds that didn’t go.

“I was glad to make one that was important,” Neely said. “I didn’t make a lot, but I made one that counted.”

Before the fire-police game, two 12-and-under teams from the Selma PAL Center played to a 24-24 tie.