The second-grade Bobcats and Rockets battled back and forth for 32 minutes but when the final whistle blew both teams went home winners. The Bobcats and Rockets finished their game with 26 points each Saturday at the East Lawrence Recreation Center.

After the game there were smiles all around as both teams got to have victory snacks.

Bobcats head coach Craig Stoppel said his team’s work during the week is starting to pay off on the weekends.

“I thought we played as hard as we’ve played all year today,” Stoppel said. “We work really hard on defense and rebounding at practice, and I think for the most part we did a really good job in those aspects, particularly on the rebounding side.”

Bobcats guard Mikey Corbett played well in areas that can’t always be taught during weekly practices. Corbett showed his dribbling ability by driving to the right side of the court every time he touched the ball. He would then take either a 10-foot jump shot or a 10-foot hook shot. He was also able to dribble the ball the entire distance of the floor and make lay ups.

Even with Corbett’s good dribbling, the Bobcats fell behind early in the game. After the first quarter the Rockets held a two-point lead.

Left-handed Rockets point guard Jordan Patrick was the exact opposite of Corbett. Patrick drove to his left every time he touched the ball. Patrick used his dribbling skills to slice and dice all the way to the rim instead of settling for an outside jump shot or hook shot.

Patrick and guard Thomas Uhler helped their team build the lead to four points after three quarters. Uhler also used fancy dribbling skills to get clean looks at the basket for lay-ins. He used a spin-o-rama move to beat the Bobcats in the paint.

However, the efforts of Patrick and Uhler couldn’t hold on to the lead during the final quarter of the game.

The Bobcats scratched and clawed their way back into the game with good old-fashioned hustle. Guard Eli Goldman sacrificed his body by diving to the hard wood for loose balls. Goldman’s aggressive play helped the Bobcats to tie the score at 26 points when time expired.

Rockets guard Jordan Patrick, left, tries to slap the ball away from Bobcats guard Eli Goldman, right, Saturday at the East Lawrence Center.

Stoppel said the games for the second graders weren’t about winning or losing, but more about teaching.

“We want to teach these guys the fundamentals and give them an understanding of the game,” Stoppel said. “The second-grade year is kind of a transition year because in third grade the referees start calling things like traveling and double dribble. So we just want to basically teach defensive and offensive concepts.”

Transition years always work better when both teams can learn about the game and both teams can go home winners.