Yancey scored a team-high 19 points Sunday, leading the Augusta Housing Authority 17-and-under basketball team to a 69-65 triumph over the Augusta Skills in the gold-medal game at May Park.

But for Yancey and his teammates, there's more to it than winning. Simply playing represents a victory in and of itself.

"It's real important, because there's a lot of people out there doing crazy stuff," said Yancey, a rising senior at Laney High. "We've got this. We're playing basketball instead of being out there doing drugs or whatever."

Gary Winferry said he coaches the boys to give them a chance he never had. All of his players live in subsidized housing, and he said most of them come from single-parent homes.

"All these kids are from distressed neighborhoods," said Winferry, a 44-year-old who is the unit director at Dogwood Terrace Boys and Girls Club. "We're just trying to provide activities, and basketball is just one avenue that we use to help these kids realize their potential."

Winferry has been coaching the housing authority team every summer for the past five years. This squad, composed mostly of boys from Laney and Josey high schools, is one of four that are based at Dogwood Terrace. The others are 15-and-under, 13-and-under and 11-and-under.

Winferry's job goes far beyond drawing up a play or making a motivational halftime speech. He's usually responsible for picking the kids up from home, taking them to practice, feeding them, helping them with their homework and returning them home.

"We are mentors," Winferry said of himself and the other coaches. "It's our job, but it's also something that we like doing."

Said Yancey: "If we don't have a ride to practice, he'll come pick us up. He's trying to make sure we're doing the right thing instead of the wrong thing. Whatever he can do to help us out, he'll do it."

This weekend, Winferry will take his team to Atlanta to play in a tournament against 19 other housing authority teams from across Georgia. The team hadn't played together competitively before the Georgia Games, so he viewed this as a dress rehearsal for Atlanta.

After a 5-0 run through the Georgia Games, it's safe to say he's at least a little surprised.

"I didn't know what we had," said Winferry, a Hephzibah resident who began coaching at the Boys and Girls Club in 1984. "When we started out playing, I didn't realize we would be this scrappy and this good. The guys play good defense, they have a good knowledge of the game, and they complement each other."

Reach Larry Williams at (706) 823-3645.