Cosumnes firefighters beats Elk Grove police in charity basketball game. Here’s a recap

First responders were everywhere to be found at Elk Grove High School’s basketball court on Saturday. Luckily, the only role that firefighters and police played was that of participants in a charity game. The evening proved to be injury-free.

Nearly 300 people packed the Bill Cartwright Gymnasium and cheered in support of the Elk Grove Police Department and Cosumnes Community Services Department (CSD) Fire during the inaugural game of the “Badges and Axes Showdown.” The event raised over $3,000 for the Northern California Special Olympics.

It was a hard-fought game that came down to the last shot. In the end, CSD Fire took bragging rights, narrowly winning 58-56.

Sgt. Jason Jimenez, a spokesman for the police department, said the event was “worth it” despite being on the “wrong side” of the scoreboard.

“We saw a ton of smiles and it was worth it. It was absolutely worth it,” Jimenez said. “We had a great time. We raised some money for a great cause and we’ll do it again next year.”

Axes started strong but Badges hung on

It wasn’t a pretty game at first, it looked to be non-competitive as the Axes (CSD Fire) came out scorching, pun intended. The first 10 minutes was capped with an end-of-the-quarter mid-range jump shot from Paul Montano. He scored 10 of the Axes 15 first quarter points. After the first quarter, they led 15-1.

However, the Badges (EGPD) woke up in the second quarter, thanks to aggressive drives to the basket from officer Nazariy Yakimchuk.

Yakimchuk, a former American River College basketball player, finished the game with 32 points.

“It was a great show. Elk Grove has a great community. So it’s awesome to put this on and actually have a big turnout,” Yakimchuk said.

At halftime, the score was tied at 27.

The guys traded buckets and some hard fouls.

After the break, the Badges went on a 9-3 run in the first three minutes of the second half.

The Axes would eventually respond themselves. The crowd, in heavy favor of them, began to yell chants for “defense”.

The Badges were already in a flow. Yakimchuk got out on a fastbreak and threw down a rimgrazer dunk with 1:22 remaining in the third quarter. He flexed and pointed to the crowd following the jam.

“It was great,” Yakimchuk said. “I looked for my family to point at them hoping they saw it. “The point, the flex, everything. It’s all for them.”

Yakimchuk’s dunk tied the game, but shortly after, he gave the Badges a slim lead, 48-45, after making a buzzer beating three pointer at the top of the key, seemingly deflating the Axes momentum heading into the fourth quarter.

Hot shooting from Axes’ Roger Corti, who finished with 15 points, helped CSD Fire begin to run away with the game in the final quarter.

But the Badges never gave in, keeping the game close throughout.

A pull-up jumper by Tyler Zehnder would put the Axes ahead by two with 57 seconds left in the game. He scored 7 points.

On the very next possession, Yakimchuk penetrated the lane and was fouled. He missed both free throws. The Badges would have another shot to tie the game but a layup was missed with 2.5 seconds left.

The Axes grabbed the rebound and burned the remaining seconds, prevailing to win the first ever Badges and Axes Showdown charity basketball game.

Corti was happy about the victory, but thought about his brother while out there competing.

“My brother has special needs and he also loves basketball,” Corti said. “So even though the win is great, the cause means more and that’s what all of us truly care about.”

Montano, a former two-sport athlete at Elk Grove High, led the Axes in scoring, finishing with 28 points.

“I grew up out here playing basketball (and baseball)… home of the Herd, man. That’s me,” Montano said. “This is home, this is my home court. This is my hometown. I had to put on for the fans.”

It was all fun for Montano, who was happy to participate in a game that had so much meaning.

“Just for it to be a charity event, I’ve got special needs kids in my family so for it to be for the NorCal Special Olympics for me, it’s everything man. Fire, police seeing us all in one building representing Elk Grove, that means everything,” Montano said. “And of course, we came out with the W.”

How the game came to be

Jimenez helped to organize the event. He wanted to bring the idea, initially brought up by Elk Grove police officer Myles Wade, to life.

Like Montano and Corti, there’s people close to Wade with disabilities. For Wade, a father of three, it’s his oldest and youngest son who have autism. His sister, who lives in Washington, has down syndrome.

Wade played in the game and scored two points, but it wasn’t about wins, losses or individual accolades. What it meant to host the game was bigger to him. He wanted to ensure people — especially those with disabilities — are comfortable with the presence of first responders, particularly the police.

“The worst thing that can happen is when we show up and someone says we don’t want you here because they’re afraid of us. So this whole thing was just to let it be known that we’re people too, that we have a family who share the same experiences as well. So that’s what this whole thing was about,” Wade said.

Wade, a former physical education teacher at Capital Christian Middle School, went into law enforcement joining the Elk Grove police in 2020.

Prior to that he was a professional football player which included stints in the CFL for Hamilton Tiger-Cats and the British Columbia Lions; and the NFL with the Raiders, Seahawks and Buccaneers.

Wade said despite the loss in the charity basketball game, the event itself was a “win”.

He is extremely hopeful that this will become a tradition in the region that extends beyond Elk Grove.

“Hopefully, Lord willing, this can keep going. Hopefully we can have this going every year. Hopefully we can expand into Sac. Hopefully it can expand up to Folsom and other counties (and jurisdictions) as well,” Wade said.