AUBURN — These are good kids. They play together, go to school together and perform community service as one well-oiled unit.

Surely these two dozen high school students won’t turn ferocious when it’s time to face each other on the basketball court.

“Oh, I don’t know about that,” said Youth Resource Coordinator Lee Klarman. “It’s all in fun, sure, but they get competitive. They’re out there to win.”

The Boys & Girls Club of Southern Maine’s Auburn/Lewiston Clubhouse Inaugural Basketball Battle pitted buddy against buddy. After months of practicing, working on fundraisers and keeping their grades up, it was go time at the Hasty Center gym.

“These are my friends,” said senior Faisal Farah, just before the start of the game. “They’re people I’ve known for a long time. We don’t want to hurt anybody, but yes. We want to win.”

It’s as close as they’ll get to smack talk. As part of the Be Great Basketball program, these teenagers are as well-known for manners and good sportsmanship as they are for basketball prowess.

“At the end of the game,” said sophomore Fozi Mohamed, “we’re still going to be friends.”

According to everybody involved with this group, that’s surely for the best.

After a recent game against a Portland team, the referee walked over to Klarman, looking to have a word. Did he have a complaint about the team from Lewiston-Auburn? Something grim to report on one of the players?

Not even close.

“The ref actually wanted to let us know he was impressed by their sportsmanship,” Klarman said.

It happens all the time, as it turns out. Klarman was also approached by a veteran coach recently who said he had never seen such sportsmanship among players of this particular age.

Whether they’re in the gym or out among the public, the kids are on their best behavior. They are required to maintain good grades in school. They wear suits and ties when they’re out performing services.

“That’s another way for them to show pride,” said Club Unit Director Andie Hannon. “They’re representing Lewiston and Auburn. We want them to take that seriously.”

They seem to take everything seriously, including schoolwork. Hannon recently heard from a high school English teacher who called to ask how one student in particular had improved his grades so dramatically. That student at one time had a temper problem and initially struggled to fit in with the group, Hannon said. But the basketball program changed him. He became part of the group and the rest of his life evened out.

“He really turned it all around,” Hannon said. “Now he’s one of the leaders on the team. The staff just loves him.”

You could stop to examine every kid on the basketball court and you’d find similar tales from one end to the other.

“They all have their own story,” coach Shawn Boyd said. “It’s pretty amazing.”

One of Boyd’s duties is finding projects on which the kids can work together. He tries to make it fun: Next week, some of the students will jump into Sebago Lake, for example, but ultimately it’s about discipline and respect. Be good people, is the lesson, and good things will happen.

“We had one kid get a college scholarship,” Boyd said. “There are incentives for everybody.”

The kids worked together to raise money for their uniforms, which were designed and screen-printed by Zach Danse, an Edward Little High School sophomore and member of the travel team.

One team consists of older students who are expected to lead by example. Surely, that must mean that they’ll go easier on the younger, less experienced squad.

“Oh, no,” said Kevin Varney, whose son, Brandon, was on the basketball court Friday night. “They’re going to go hard.”

And they did go hard, but in the way of sportsmen. There were no high elbows or flaring tempers. By the end of the first quarter, the older team maintained a slight lead. It was competitive, sure, but no one seemed so bent on winning that it diminished the joy of the game.

“It’s not just basketball,” said player Chris Lenardis. The Be Great program, he said, “is good for us, and it’s good for the people around us. It’s a good thing for the whole community.”

The teams compete in the Boys & Girls Clubs of Southern Maine High School League, a competitive league that is part of a long-standing partnership between the clubs and recreation departments from Portland and South Portland. The league includes 14 teams from throughout Portland and South Portland, as well as Lewiston-Auburn, which joined the league last year.

Players sign contracts with the clubhouse that include everything from turning in grades to club staff twice a week to serving as club mentors and role models — on and off the court — to community service, college tours and career exploration, and fundraising for charitable causes as well as their team fees.

By the midway point of the game, the score remained reasonably close. The bleachers were crammed full of fans and the Boys & Girls Club staffers ran up and down the court, cheering on both sides. Some are full time, a few are volunteers. Their affection for the players was apparent, no matter where you happened to be sitting.

“I love every one of these kids,” Hannon said. “They’re just awesome.”

The final score was 65-41, Hannon said. The older team won.

Be Great Basketball facts:

* Several players have spent the basketball season as assistant coaches for the third/fourth and fifth/sixth grade teams from the Boys & Girls Club that participate in the Auburn Recreation Department League.

* Several players have spent hours in the learning center of the Boys & Girls Club as tutors, both for younger members as well as teammates.

* Coaches are exploring the opportunity to volunteer time to the Maine Special Olympics Basketball Program.

* Players will be participating in the Shaw’s Polar Dip on Valentine’s Day and hope to raise $1,000 for the Maine Children’s Cancer Center.

* Last year, the team also toured Southern Maine Community College. Coaches are exploring several college tours during February vacation, including the University of New England, Saint Joseph’s College and the University of Maine.

* Last year’s team graduated four seniors. One is a student at the University of Maine in Orono and another is at student at Central Maine Community College. One former player now runs the gym at the Boys & Girls Club and is looking to enroll in CMCC this fall, and the last former player is working in the L/A community.

* Several players took part in several community service projects last year as a team, after the season was officially over. They included assisting with the coaching duties of an Auburn Rec T-Ball Team and directing cars where to park and setting up and breaking down chairs and tents at the annual Butterfly Release Program at the Hospice House on Stetson Road in Auburn.

Source: Andie Hannon, club unit director for Boys and Girls Clubs of Southern Maine Auburn/Lewiston