Joshua’s Hoops for HOPE, an annual charity basketball game featuring players from past Floyd County High School teams, took over the old gym at the school Saturday afternoon and early evening with three exciting games that showed athletes don’t lose their competitive edge when they age.

Alumni from the girls basketball teams played to a tie, then another tie at the end of the first overtime and then sudden death that was decided when Carmen Bolt, a member of the 2008 girls state championship team, sank a free throw to end the game with a one-point win.

When the boys from recent years took the court later in the afternoon, the game lead veered back and forth and a pair of three pointers made it a one-point game late in the fourth quarter.  Another win by a single point.

Male players from earlier years, including one from the class o 1963 and another from 1965, took the floor after 6 p.m.   I had to leave the game at halftime for another assignment and didn’t get the final score.

Joshua’s Hoops for HOPE is named in honor of Joshua Cantrell, the three-year-old son of FCHS Athletic Director Travis Cantrell and grandson of girls basketball coach Alan Cantrell.  Joshua died of a rare form of brain cancer in 2007.