City of Basketball Love

Michael Bullock (@thebullp_n)
--

BETHLEHEM — While a significant victory Wednesday night may have had Bethlehem Catholic’s basketball-playing Golden Hawks primed for a letdown — an overtime win, no less — Ray Barbosa was determined not to let anyone get complacent.

Or, for that matter, overconfident since next up was a talented Whitehall side full of giddy-up and coming off a loss that likely put them in a foul mood.

So while Barbosa’s Hawks took some time to air it out Wednesday night, they returned to practice one day later, pouring plenty of sweat as they readied for what they hoped was a memorable run in the East Penn Conference’s grueling eight-team event.

Let’s just say that it’s so far, so good.

Getting matching 17-point performances from Amir Pettiford and Justin Paz, along with an 11-point effort from Will Melson, Bethlehem Catholic sidelined Whitehall 64-54 in a quarterfinal-round matchup Friday night at the Hawks’ Nest.

“Our guards played really well,” Barbosa said. “They played well.

“When our guards play well, we’re good.”

Junior 6-9 big man Ryan Young added 13 rebounds for Barbosa’s Hawks (17-5) — Becahi outrebounded Whitehall 34-31 — who wheeled into Tuesday’s semis at a site and time to be determined with their fourth consecutive victory. Senior forward Jordan Odle, Becahi's fifth starter, added eight points and five boards.

“We said to ourselves that we have one night to celebrate for Allen — and it was that night,” Pettiford said. “The next day was strictly business. So we had to come in the gym the next day, we focused, we had a good hard practice.”

Up next for City of Basketball Love’s fifth-ranked Class 4A side will be East Stroudsburg North (14-9), which surprised top-seeded Emmaus 52-49 in another quarter.

William Allen and Pocono Mountain West will meet in the other semifinal.

“We said you need to win by one or by 30, but all that matters is you survive and you advance,” Barbosa said. “That’s what we’re trying to do right now. We’re trying to game plan for East Stroudsburg North on Saturday and get ready for them on Tuesday.”

Zach Gilbert scored 18 points and Mikey Esquilin finished with 12 for Whitehall (16-7), the No. 10 team in CoBL’s Class 5A rankings. Jeff Jones’ high-octane Zephyrs, limited to their third-lowest offensive output of the season by Barbosa’s balanced Hawks, later this month will be the No. 2 seed in the District 11 Class 5A tournament.

Although Whitehall was looking to rebound from Wednesday’s loss to Skyline Division playmate Emmaus, Barbosa was hoping his fourth-seeded Hawks would still be plugged in some 48 hours after handing Allen its first loss (68-56) in nearby Allentown.

Ironically, Allen is where the soft-spoken Barbosa racked up more than 2,000 career points and landed on several all-state teams before spending his college years playing at James Madison and Maryland-Baltimore County.

So, Wednesday night’s success meant plenty to the second-year skipper.

“The one thing we preach here is we’ve got to move on to the next game,” Barbosa said. “Wednesday night was an emotional night [beating the] No. 1 team in 6A — and they were undefeated. But that’s what we preach here.

“Once the game was over, we celebrated, celebrated that night and got some work done the next day. That’s the one thing is these guys understand that you’ve got to play the next game. The first team is just as good as the next,” Barbosa said.

“We’ve got to keep going and keep playing hard. The guys are really buying into that.”

So …

While the game was knotted up midway through the first quarter at 10-all, Barbosa’s quick-starting Hawks used a Pettiford 3-pointer to trigger a 15-4 salvo that had the hosts sitting on a 25-14 advantage when the opening stanza came to a close.

Any thoughts of a letdown were gone in a flash.

Becahi was ready to play, executing its game plan at both ends and determined to advance to Tuesday night’s semis. A quick start — Barbosa’s bunch shot 60 percent (9-for-15) in the first quarter while burying five of their seven looks from beyond the arc — merely added a few RPMs to the Hawks’ rising confidence level.

“We’re a 3-point shooting team,” said Pettiford, who added four rebounds and three assists. “And usually when we’re clicking on 3-pointers, we get out and get a lead.

“Usually when we play bad or we don’t shoot well, it’s kind of hard for us to run — but it’s mostly about our defense. It’s not necessarily about scoring, it’s about our defense.”

Whether the Hawks are playing man or flashing zone.

Soon after Paz canned the third of his four area-code jumpers early in the second quarter, the Hawks shelved their man defense and unveiled a 2-3 zone meant to slow down the high-end Zephyrs, temper the pace more to their liking and clog up the painted area so slashers Esquilin and Kasai Harrison had less room to operate.

Becahi’s zone also stunted plenty of passing lanes — especially with the 6-9 Young protecting the rim — since Whitehall likes to plant a pair of bigs at the high post so the pick-and-roll can come into play repeatedly. With that tactic closed off somewhat, Jones’ Zephyrs began settling for jumpers that didn’t consistently fall.

Despite being forced to hammer things out with their half-court sets, Jones’ Zephyrs were able to close to within six (37-31) by the break and were even within four early in the third following Logan McGinley’s finish. But Pettiford’s jumper and yet another Paz dart from deep enabled the Hawks to restore some order.

Whitehall, in fact, never got closer than six the rest of the way.

Conversely, Becahi’s lead grew to as many as 13 in the fourth quarter — and that cushion was in place three times in the final four minutes.

Forced to foul in an effort to extend the game — and its stay in the East Penn Conference tournament — Whitehall sent Pettiford to the line four times down the stretch. The 6-2 senior responded by draining six of his eight looks from the stripe.

Melson added another before the buzzer finally sounded.

Letdown? What letdown?

A Becahi squad featuring just two seniors was moving on to face an East Stroudsburg North squad the Golden Hawks defeated 58-46 in early January on the road. And since there’s no time to waste at this time of the year, Barbosa will be bringing in his players on Saturday to begin preparing for the eighth-seeded Timberwolves.

“Win or go home … and we all want to win,” said Paz, the 5-10 sophomore whose stat line also included six assists and six boards. “Our whole team, the coaching staff.

“We do whatever it takes to win.”

“It’s very nice. To win a playoff game with this group, which only has two seniors,” Barbosa added. “I think they know that you want to survive and advance — and move on to the next one and that’s East Stroudsburg North.”