At the historic Wolverine Gym, supporters were treated to an action-packed game as they witnessed the second annual First Responders Basketball Tournament.

The game took place Saturday afternoon and featured first responders from multiple different precincts and firehouses throughout the county. Despite the competition in the air, the event provided a chance for the community to connect with the county’s first responders on a different level.

One of the event organizers, Newton County Sheriff’s Deputy Tim Smith, had a front-row seat as he manned the scorebook in the game.

After the event, Smith spoke about the turnout and his thoughts on the community’s support.

“The event went great,” Smith said.  “With the turnout, we were surprised. We are hoping it grows bigger next time and we will get more participation. Really, our goal is to collaborate more with our law enforcement officials. Every entity — we have fire out there, we have some from Porterdale, city of Covington, Oxford, the Board of Education, [the] police department, EMS. We brought it all together.”

The game consisted of two teams: Law Enforcement and Fire Services.

Featuring four 10-minute quarters, Law Enforcement had strong success early on as they wound up with a 10-1 lead after the opening quarter.

However, Fire Services did not go away easily.

With under a minute left in the game, Fire Services managed to pull within three points, but Law Enforcement managed to create separation late to earn a 41-35 win.

After suffering the defeat a year ago in the first event, Smith enjoyed seeing Law Enforcement hoist the trophy this time around.

“Last year, we lost by six points, so we were neck-and-neck this year as you can see,” Smith said. “The score was 35-41, so we are neck-and-neck, we got our get-back. It turned out pretty good.”

Although it was a “friendly” rivalry, both sides entered Saturday looking for a win and bragging rights, and it started with the coaches.

“Today’s coaches were Miss V from 33.3 Hair Salon [for the law enforcement], she is a semi-pro player,” Smith said. “We also have Chief Turner from Newton Fire who came out to support them today as the coach.”

Turner himself got into the action late, but some high-flyers from team law enforcement proved to be too much.

Although there is the rivalry aspect of the event, Smith made sure to note that the event is about more than just competition.

“It feels like that in the gym, but it helps us when we are out in the community and we are challenged by circumstances within the community to work together,” Smith said. “That’s really the goal. It helps us to galvanize and make the community safer.

“From Sheriff Ezell Brown, his goal is to bring all of the entities of Newton County together. First responders, community leaders — we have community leaders from the Juneteenth parade that are here with us, so we are just trying to bring as much of the community together as we can. Events like this really help us to galvanize our community and make it safe for them.”