Will Palmer scored 18 points for the Hurricanes and Sudge Hoderewski led the Zephyrs with 21. Liberty won the Lehigh Valley Summer League’s JV title with a 47-41 win over Whitehall in the title game, which was played last week at Cedar Beach. He had a good look at a potential game-tying 3-pointer in the final seconds, but it bounced off the back of the rim. We have a lot of tough teams in our league and we have to keep getting better.”Īlex Magnotta led Saucon with 12 with 10 coming after halftime. “We just needed to keep getting stops,” he said. We’ve asked a lot of him and he has really stepped up.”Ĭesare said the key to beating Saucon Valley was on the defensive end and limiting the Panthers to one shot. “He has done a good job this summer of working with younger guys. “He’s our leader and he keeps us under control and makes sure everybody knows what they are doing,” Cesare said. We’re thrilled with the direction the program is headed.”Ĭesare said Fitch is a coach on the floor. Kids who aren’t even playing come and sit on the bench to learn and see what’s going on. We’ve had a lot of kids play, including freshmen and eighth graders. “These kids have bought in and the summer has been great for us in terms of getting everyone involved. “We’ve preached commitment and staying involved and staying together in the summer,” Cesare said. Second-year coach Cory Cesare, a 2010 Whitehall graduate, was happy to be back at his alma mater and even happier to see his kids succeed. We look for the open man on offense and everybody contributes.” “Everybody has bought into the program and plays together and works hard. “We made some defensive changes in the second half, threw in some zone, and adjusted to their press,” Fitch said. Xzavion Robertson led the Muhls, who also finished second in the Cedar Beach Showcase, with 18 points - 13 in the second half.Ĭayden Fitch scored 20 points - 15 in the second half - as Northwestern Lehigh rallied from a 21-16 halftime deficit.

When Matt Ray’s hot like that, we’re going to get him the ball and he’s going to hit shots.” Then on offense, we moved the ball and found the open man. We just played good help defense and rotated and closed out on their open guys. Some guys got more playing time this week and hopefully, that builds confidence that we can carry into the season. “This provides great confidence for everybody. “It doesn’t matter who’s out there, we’re deep and we just play together,” said Gerbasio, who scored just 11 points last season. That allowed the Muhls to get a late spurt that made the final score more respectable. Gerbasio’s 3-pointer made it 57-37 late and Stephens took out the starters. Gerbasio scored 10 of his 16 points in the second half and Parkland made 7 of 8 at the foul line to stay comfortably in front. After Muhlenberg Township used a press to create turnovers and cut a 30-17 halftime deficit to 30-24, Ray and Gerbasio combined for three 3s in a 13-2 run that boosted the lead back to 47-29. “Sometimes he takes a back seat, but hopefully this game gave him confidence in his abilities.”Īlso gaining confidence was Joey Gerbasio, another rising senior. “He did that often as a JV player and we’ve said to Matt that he needs to be more assertive and aggressive offensively,” Stephens said. Stephens said he wasn’t surprised by Ray’s performance. You want your whole team here, but when guys are out, it makes guys do certain things they’re not accustomed to doing and that can help us in the long run.” “The other added bonus was seeing Matt Ray in a different role and some of the other guys in different roles as well. “What was nice is that guys who don’t play a whole lot got the chance to play,” Parkland coach Andy Stephens said. The Trojans expect to have their regular team after having primarily a JV squad in last month’s Cedar Beach Showcase tournament.t Parkland will close out the summer by participating in the A-Town Throwdown next weekend at Cedar Beach.

We just have to keep playing our kind of basketball.” Nothing is going to be easy nothing is going to be given to us. “It feels good to get this win and hopefully we can keep the momentum going into next season. “Obviously we have higher expectations,” Ray said. Parkland's Matt Ray looks to score as Muhlenberg's J'Daniel Mosquera defends Thursday, June 21, 2022, during the Lehigh Valley Boys Summer Basketball League Championship game at Whitehall High School.

Big head basketball champions