Many area basketball fans love the A-Town Throwdown, the signature event of Awesome!Fest at Allentown’s Cedar Beach every summer because they get to see teams from all over Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York, and this year even one each from Delaware and Florida.
But they also want to see which local teams are looking good.
After a slew of graduations of local star players this spring — Jake Pukszyn, Gabe Transue, Tiheed Wise Jr., Frankie Pujols, Noah Walakovits, KJ Coles and Seth Hoderewski, among others — there’s a void to be filled.
In the last week, Wilson West Lawn and Berks Catholic won summer league and Cedar Beach Showcase big-school titles along with small-school winners Lehigh Valley Academy and Notre Dame-Green Pond.
No one from the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference stood out.
So, as the four-day A-Town Throwdown begins at 3 p.m. Thursday with a full slate of games, one of the storylines is simply: Which EPC team, if any, is a contender to win the championship?
Just once in the last eight years has a local team — Parkland in 2024 — won the tournament, which this year will feature 60 teams in the high school varsity division.
Malvern Prep has won two of the last three championships, and before that Reading ran off three in a row.
Tournament directors Randy Atiyeh and Toomey Anderson have again assembled a large group of strong teams that are guaranteed three games during pool play before the field is whittled down to 16 by Sunday morning, and the single-elimination portion of the event kicks in.
The boys varsity title game is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Sunday, following the JV boys championship contest at 4:30 p.m. and the girls final at 5:30 p.m.
As usual, two of the most anticipated events of the tournament are the 3-point shooting and slam-dunk competitions Saturday night after the tournament’s longest day of games is complete.
Some of Thursday night’s best matchups include Allen taking on the Geneva School from Florida. Geneva is coached by former Whitehall and DeSales standout Tony Medina. Also, Pocono Mountain West, which reached the tournament finals last year, plays Reading, and Easton and Phillipsburg renew their Delaware River rivalry.
“Competition-wise, the field is stacked,” said Atiyeh, who is also Allen’s athletic director. “Everyone expects to see regional powerhouses like Camden, Lower Merion, Malvern Prep and Reading tear it up and they never disappoint. But what really excites me this year are the unique storylines like Coach Medina bringing his team from Florida. It’s a genuine homecoming story for him and having a team travel that far just to play on our courts is special.”
Geneva was supposed to play Hempfield in its first game Thursday night, but Hempfield had to bow out of the tournament because of a death within the program’s basketball family.
So, three teams from other pools will play games against the three teams that were supposed to be in Hempfield’s pool starting with Allen on Thursday night. On Saturday, Timber Creek, New Jersey, will play Northampton in Hempfield’s spot and Odessa, Delaware, will step in and play Pocono Mountain East on Saturday.
Being able to adapt and change things on the fly — last year’s final day was moved indoors to Executive because of rain — are one of the things the tournament staff does best.
“When people talk about the Throwdown, they talk about the games, but what I think about are the coaches and our tournament staff who come back summer after summer,” Atiyeh said. “We give the same recycled quotes every year about how good the basketball is, but the real secret sauce of this tournament is the loyalty of the people behind the scenes. Our core staff and the coaches who bring their kids back every July have built this event right alongside us. This tournament doesn’t run without them.”
Thursday’s boys schedule
3 p.m. games: Freedom vs. Salisbury; Northern Lehigh vs. Dieruff; Bethlehem Christian vs. Notre Dame-ES
4 p.m. games: Pocono Mt. East vs. Northampton; Lincoln Leadership vs. Lehigh Christian; Liberty vs. Emmaus (JV); Pen Argyl vs. Lehigh Valley Academy (JV)
5 p.m. games: Northern Lehigh vs. Fleetwood; Bethlehem Christian vs. North Hunterdon; Geneva School (Fla) vs. Allen; Parkland vs. Freedom (JV); Allen vs. ACCHS (JV)
6 p.m. games: Pocono Mountain West vs. Reading; Pen Argyl vs. Lehigh Christian; Freedom vs. Octorara; Malvern Prep vs. Dieruff (JV); Nazareth vs. Muhlenberg Twp (JV);
7 p.m. games: Easton vs. Phillipsburg; Nazareth vs. Muhlenberg Twp; North Hunterdon vs. Notre Dame-ES; Pocono Mt. East vs. Geneva School; Reading vs. Lions (JV); Salisbury vs. Executive (JV)
8 p.m. games: Dieruff vs. Fleetwood; Bethlehem Catholic vs. Northwestern Lehigh; Lincoln Leadership vs. Pen Argyl.
9 p.m. games: Allen vs. Southern Lehigh; Executive vs. Lehigh Valley Academy; Salisbury vs. Octorara; Emmaus vs. Reading.
Friday’s boys schedule
3 p.m. games: Parkland vs. ES North (St. Luke’s Sports Plex); Exeter vs. William Tennant; Innovative Arts vs. Hamburg
4 p.m. games: West York vs. Liberty; Stroudsburg vs. Abington; ACCHS vs. Emmaus (Riser); Lions vs. Allen (Riser)
5 p.m. games: Hamburg vs. Catasauqua; Southern Lehigh vs. Cedar Crest (St. Luke’s Sports Plex); Dobbins vs. ES North; Timber Creek NJ vs. Muhlenberg Twp; Dieruff vs. Liberty (Riser); Parkland vs. Executive (Riser)
6 p.m. games: Nazareth vs. Lower Merion; Emmaus vs. Bartram; Bethlehem Catholic vs. Wilson West Lawn; Whitehall vs. William Tennant; ACCHS vs. Lions (Riser); Allen vs. Emmaus (Riser)
7 p.m. games: Executive vs. Camden; Easton vs. Malvern Prep (St. Luke’s Sports Plex); Lehigh Valley Academy vs. Dobbins; Catasauqua vs. Innovative Arts (St. Luke’s Sports Plex); Odessa, Del. vs. Gov. Mifflin; Samuel Fels vs. West York; Dieruff vs. Parkland (Riser)
8 p.m. games: Allen vs. Cedar Crest; Nazareth vs. Timber Creek (St. Luke’s Sports Plex): Muhlenberg Twp vs. Lower Merion; Whitehall vs. Chambersburg; Liberty vs. Harrisburg
9 p.m. games: Parkland vs. Camden; Notre Dame-Green Pond vs. Malvern Prep; Sankofa vs. Southern Lehigh; Wilson West Lawn vs. Northwestern Lehigh.
Past boys championship games
2008: Octorara def. Wilson West Lawn 58-55
2009: Hempfield def. Exeter 54-48
2010: Allen def. Constitution 45-33
2011: Freedom def. Allen 65-40
2012: Parkland def. Delaware Valley Charter 61-58
2013: Parkland def. Constitution 58-48
2014: Parkland def. Allen 70-53
2015: Nazareth def. CCHS 54-49
2016: Liberty def. Whitehall 54-48
2017: Chambersburg def. Parkland 48-31
2018: Sankofa def. Emmaus 62-59
2019: Reading def. Executive Education 40-37
2021: Reading def. Lincoln 49-40
2022: Reading def. Malvern Prep 59-51
2023: Malvern Prep def. Lower Merion 46-34
2024: Parkland def. Pocono Mt. West 49-34
2025: Malvern Prep def. Pocono Mt. West 57-31
Pool breakdown
Big Schools
Pool 1: Parkland, Executive, Camden
Pool 2: Nazareth, Timber Creek, Lower Merion, Muhlenberg Township
Pool 3: Allentown Central Catholic, Panther Valley, Bensalem, Red Lion
Pool 4: Northampton, Pocono Mountain East, Geneva School, Fill-In games
Pool 5: Allen, Southern Lehigh, Sankofa, Cedar Crest
Pool 6: Liberty, Harrisburg, Samuel Fels, West York
Pool 7: Whitehall, Exeter, William Tennant, Chambersburg
Pool 8: Emmaus, Pocono Mountain West, Bartram, Reading
Pool 9: Stroudsburg, Odessa (Del); Abington, Gov. Mifflin
Pool 10; Easton, Notre Dame-Green Pond, Malvern Prep, Phillipsburg (NJ)
Small Schools
Pool A: Catasauqua, Innovative Arts, Hamburg
Pool B: Bethlehem Christian, North Hunterdon (NJ), Notre Dame-ES
Pool C: Bethlehem Catholic, Northwestern Lehigh, Wilson West Lawn
Pool D: Salisbury, Freedom, Octorara
Pool E: Northern Lehigh, Fleetwood, Dieruff
Pool F: Lincoln Leadership, Pen Argyl, Lehigh Christian Academy
Pool G: East Stroudsburg North, LV Academy, Dobbins.
Notes: Top teams from pools 1-10 based on records and point differential advance to Sweet 16. Top team from pools A-G go to a play-in tournament. Winner of play-in tournament advances to Sweet 16. Second and third place teams from pools A-G play consolation contest for their third game Sunday.