The high school basketball season seems to offer no breaks.

Even on Sunday there were two games involving two of the area’s better teams as Parkland played St. Joe’s Prep and Executive took on Overbrook in special events.

There is a batch of games Monday night and a few more Tuesday before finally teams take off Wednesday and Thursday for Christmas.

League play won’t resume until Jan. 3 in the Colonial League and Jan. 6 in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference.

Teams are handling the holiday break in different ways. Some aren’t playing at all, some are playing single games and some are participating in holiday tournaments.

While there aren’t as many tournaments as there used to be, the ones that continue are intriguing, with unusual matchups. This year, all of them are Dec. 29-30, since no one wants to play the day after Christmas, over the weekend or on New Year’s Eve.

At Easton, for example, the annual rotary tournament is bringing Executive and Pennridge to the event, which always features the host Red Rovers and Phillipsburg. The Slatington Rotary tournament at Northern Lehigh began in 1982 and is still going strong, with Catasauqua, Pleasant Valley and Bethlehem Christian in the mix. Whitehall will host its annual event with Nazareth, Northwestern Lehigh and Delaware County Christian.

Allen offers three teams from outside the area joining the Canaries at J. Milo Sewards Gym. Wilkes-Barre Area from District 2, Thomas Edison from Philadelphia, and Woodson High School from Fairfax, Virginia, fill out the field.

“It’s important for us to have a tournament because there’s a long break from school for the kids, and it’s important for our players to have some competition over the holidays,” Allen Athletic Director Randy Atiyeh said. “Like most schools, we try to schedule something. But for us, it has also become like an Allen High School reunion because a lot of kids come back and look forward to it. It’s a lot of work to host something over the holidays, but for us it’s important to do it. The girls will also be involved on the first night, so we should have a good crowd over the two nights and good competition.”

There are local ties with two of the three outsiders coming to Allentown.

Doug Craig, the son of former Liberty coach and athletic director Joe Craig, has built Woodson into a top-notch program. Mike Levin, Edison’s athletic director and coach, is an Allen graduate.

“Mike Levin was a football teammate of mine,” Allen coach Darnell Braswell said. “He was the center when I was the quarterback. We had a really good relationship, and three years ago we started talking about it at a Christmas party. We reached out to Randy, and he made it happen. We’re playing Edison on the first night and it’s going to be a homecoming for my friend, and that’s what it’s all about. We love to have people coming back to Allen.”

Atiyeh said it’s not to run a holiday tournament.

“There’s a lot of work involved,” he said. “And I don’t mean for the athletic directors. We have a lot of people working on our staff, including the custodians and with school out, they would love to have some time off. But it’s important for us to have one for our kids, for our alumni. They love to come back, and it’s a nice chance to see people you don’t normally see. So, we’re going to keep holding these tournaments for as long as we can.”

Did you know?

Nazareth made noise around the local basketball world, and even the nation, when Bobby Grzenda hit the game-winning 3-pointer from well beyond half court Saturday in a 52-49 home win over Easton. The play was shown as one of the Top 10 plays of the day on ESPN’s “SportsCenter.” As Nazareth basketball’s X account noted, it was a moment that the entire team will never forget and it came on Hahn Day, in honor of Nazareth senior basketball player Logan Hahn’s mother, Mary, who died in October at age 60 after a battle with cancer. All proceeds from the Nazareth-Easton game went to the American Cancer Society and also helped to support the family.

Saturday summaries

In EPC games played Saturday, Parkland beat visiting Emmaus 64-41 for its sixth straight win after an opening-night loss to Allen. The Trojans made 11 3-pointers spread out among eight players. Tyler Beck had 12 points, while Blake Nassry and Nassim Adams added 11 and 10, respectively.

Allentown Central Catholic celebrated its Rockne Wall of Fame Day with a 60-50 win over Whitehall. Cameron Hines scored 25 points, and Yariel Gonzalez added 19 to offset a 35-point effort by the Zephyrs’ Seth Hoderewski.

In Colonial League games Saturday, Notre Dame-Green Pond won its sixth straight by beating Saucon Valley 53-43 as Justin Manning scored 21 and Drew Boyd added 12 while freshman Thomas Cahill, son of Lehigh football coach Kevin Cahill, scored 23.

Catasauqua bounced back from Friday’s loss to Notre Dame-Green Pond with a 68-43 road win over Wilson Area. Reece Lopez scored 19, while Frankie Pujols and Aalani Nix chipped in with 17 and 15, respectively.

Player of the Week

Tiheed Wise Jr. — Allen

Allen's Tiheed Wise looks to pass the ball against Dieruff during an Eastern Pennsylvania Conference boys basketball game on Saturday, Dec.20, 2025, at Dieruff High School in Allentown. (Jonathan Broady/Special to The Morning Call)Allen’s Tiheed Wise looks to pass the ball against Dieruff during an Eastern Pennsylvania Conference boys basketball game on Saturday, Dec.20, 2025, at Dieruff High School in Allentown. (Jonathan Broady/Special to The Morning Call)

Allen’s Tiheed Wise Jr. played more of a supporting role, often overshadowed by second-team all-league selection Keith Jackson last season. Jackson averaged 18.1 points per game last season when the Canaries bounced back from a 2-20 season in 2023-24 to go 16-11, finish third in District 11 6A, and reach the state tournament. Wise averaged 10.2 ppg

But with Jackson having graduated, Wise has moved more into the spotlight this season, and he has been shining as bright as almost any player in the area through the first three weeks of the season. He is averaging 22.1 points per game during Allen’s 7-0 start. He has scored 32 points against Parkland, 31 against Pocono Mountain East, and 25 against Nazareth in a game in which he tallied all 16 of his team’s points in the first quarter and had 21 in the first half.

He has 19 3-pointers this season, and even when he’s not scoring, he’s rebounding, passing, hustling and doing everything he can to help his team win. He is nicknamed Chunk, and through the first part of the season, a chunk of Allen’s success has to be attributed to Wise’s becoming a complete player.

“Chunk is doing everything we’re asking him to do,” Braswell said. “He’s scoring, he’s passing the ball, and he has become a really unselfish player. He defended a big man the other night, and then he guarded a point guard [against Dieruff]. He’s extremely talented, and yet he’s selfless, and the other guys understand that. They have to be ready for him to pass them the ball. He has taken steps to become more of a leader. Our coaching staff has worked on helping him with that.  It’s not perfect, but he’s doing everything he can to help the rest of the guys get up to speed.”

Wise fouled out against Dieruff with 6:10 left in Saturday’s game. He had 14 points before departing, but his effort helped get the Canaries the lead and they held on.

“We were 2-20 two years ago, but we’re trying to make everyone forget that season,” said Xayvon Wimberly, another senior leader who meshes well with Wise. “We’re looking to keep this going. We don’t want to stop.”