Some use the summertime to relax and unwind after a hectic school year. But some young hoopsters hit the hardwood in summer basketball tournaments to either work on their game or to hopefully get noticed by college scouts.

And it’s another way to fight off boredom of summer vacation.

One of the many tournaments in the Houston area is the June Jam, taking place this weekend at St. Pius X High School. The teams in this tournament are mostly freshmen and sophomores, meaning that the players are continuing to hone their skills and work on improving their game.

In one game, Wesley Blackmon, a forward who finished his sophomore year at Channelview, helped the Houston Pride come from nine points down to beat Westbury Christian 52-39. Blackmon scored 14 of his 18 points in the second half to spark the comeback, including two rim-rattling dunks.

“I had to do a little extra to get the team fired up,” Blackmon said.

“In the first half, we didn’t play any defense, and we didn’t expect them to be as good as they were, and we took them lightly,” teammate and Spring sophomore Don Thomas said. He also had 18 points in the game.

Westbury Christian was led by Nick Shepard and Cody Glumm, with both scoring 17 points each.

The Pride also beat the Legends Diaz team by the score of 69-45.

The June Jam continues Saturday morning, when the freshman side begins tournament play, while the junior varsity side continues pool play and starts tournament play later that afternoon.

Tickets for the event are $6.

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