Not another game

STAUNTON — All that mattered for 48 minutes on Saturday night was charity.

With duct tape numbers on their backs, and more tape covering their native school’s names, teams comprised of students from Robert E. Lee and Buffalo Gap met at the Paul Hatcher Gymnasium to help raise money for the St. Paul United Methodist Church youth group’s trip to the slums of Nassau, Bahamas.

Staunton won the game 79-58, but didn’t celebrate or even claim the bragging rights that came with it, but just was glad to help.

“Everyone knows each other and it was chill out there,” Staunton’s J.R. Gray said. “Anything to do with charity is good. We will do anything we can.”

Most of the players were from Buffalo Gap’s and Robert E. Lee’s varsity basketball teams, though there were a few extras thrown in the mix. The two schools, which are stars in their respective districts, never squared off with each other this season, though only 15 miles separate them.

“It was cool because we don’t get to play them in the season,” Gray said.

Swoope’s Boone Jones, one of the main student organizers along with Emily Cummings and Mary Cummings, was credited with 22 points in the game. Jones said that getting the teams together didn’t take much effort and everyone was willing to chip in for the cause.

“It was easy,” Jones said. “Most of the guys want to play Staunton and the city kids wanted to play us. We came out here, had fun and had some laughs.”

The players were eager to show their skills in front of the large crowd that gathered for the event, but winning wasn’t the focus.

“Staunton is a tremendous group of guys,” Jones said. “They don’t just win games, they are just a good group of guys. Maybe this can become an annual thing, it was just fun.”

Swoope led until midway into the second quarter, when Staunton began to fight back and took the 48-32 lead at the half. Staunton never relinquished the lead during the second half. Jones said that despite the loss, he was happy with the turnout and his team’s game.

“It just was good fun, we weren’t really worried about the outcome,” Jones said. “I mean, yeah, we wanted to win, but the charity was the most important thing.”

Lee High assistant coach Jarrett Hatcher was at the helm of Staunton and said that he jumped at the chance to help out.

“Mary Cummings, one of my students, asked me to get involved, and [Swoope coach] Chris [Davis] and I were able to do it,” Hatcher said. “I know several of the Gap kids. I’ve watched Boone over the years, and it’s just a neat chance to watch the kids play.”

Jones said that several people volunteered who weren’t members of his church.

“Our credit goes to the church and our youth minister, Clarese Wilkerson,” he said. “They did a lot of work. A lot of people in our youth group pitched in and a lot of people who weren’t in our youth group pitched in because they liked the idea.”

The St. Paul youth group is still accepting donations to help with the Nassau mission trip. For more information, contact St. Paul United Methodist at 382-2410.