{"id":105376,"date":"2026-02-04T23:45:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T23:45:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/105376\/"},"modified":"2026-02-04T23:45:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T23:45:09","slug":"the-lehigh-valley-has-a-new-2000-point-scorer-and-he-led-his-team-to-a-statement-victory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/105376\/","title":{"rendered":"The Lehigh Valley has a new 2,000-point scorer and he led his team to a statement victory"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Bethlehem Christian boys basketball program<\/a> has accomplished a lot in a short period of time. Now, with the help of Gabe Transue, the Panthers can boast something that few other Lehigh Valley schools can claim.<\/p>\n

Transue<\/a>, a senior forward, hit 2,000 career points as visiting Bethlehem Christian, ranked No. 12 by lehighvalleylive.com, defeated No. 6 Executive Education 70-67 in a battle of the area\u2019s newest basketball powers on Tuesday night.<\/p>\n

Transue is just the 10th player from the lehighvalleylive.com coverage area to reach the lofty scoring milestone.<\/p>\n

The senior forward needed eight points to hit the mark, according to Bethlehem Christian\u2019s statistics. He got there on a putback with 1:19 remaining in the first quarter.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a little nerve-racking coming in here against a good team,\u201d Transue admitted. \u201cOnce I got it, we just started playing and we found our shots.\u201d<\/p>\n

Transue, who recently committed to Gettysburg College, finished the game with 30 points. He\u2019s averaging 28.6 points per game, which leads the region this winter.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a nice number, a nice milestone to hit,\u201d the senior said.<\/p>\n

Transue said 2,000 points became a feasible target during his junior year, when he upped his average and scored 693 points during that season alone.<\/p>\n

\u201cGabe elevates everybody, and it\u2019s a lot of fun to watch, obviously,\u201d Bethlehem Christian coach Matt DeJesus said. \u201c … I\u2019m very happy for him. He deserves it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m proud of Gabe,\u201d junior guard Deion Swift added. \u201cI\u2019ve known him for a while now. He\u2019s been working hard this whole time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Transue is one of two Panthers with eye-popping career numbers. Senior guard Myles Harris has more than 1,700 career points.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe put in the work. Going into his freshman year, him and Myles, I challenged them even that first summer: \u2018You guys are going to start as freshmen. We\u2019re going to lean on you. We\u2019re going to build things around you two,\u2019 \u201d DeJesus said.<\/p>\n

Despite the game being a closely contested throughout, Bethlehem Christian (19-2) never trailed on Tuesday night.<\/p>\n

Executive<\/a> (11-4) cut its deficit to 62-59 when sophomore guard Noah Bass sank a 3-pointer from the corner with 4:32 remaining in the fourth quarter. The Panthers answered when Swift drilled a 3 off an assist from Transue with 3:27 left.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, it\u2019s their home gym and they have all their fans cheering against us,\u201d Swift said. \u201cStaying calm and knowing that we have control of the game helped us a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sophomore guard Jaxon Loper got to the basket and scored to bring the Raptors within four at 65-61. Transue pushed the lead to 67-61 via a bucket in the paint with 2:30 remaining.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe really dominated the game,\u201d said Executive coach Ray Barbosa, a 2,000-point scorer at Allen. \u201cHe\u2019s a pretty good player.\u201d<\/p>\n

After the Panthers missed a layup, Raptors junior guard Eshaan Tung registered a bucket in transition while being fouled, tightening the score to 67-63 with 1:10 on the clock.<\/p>\n

Transue then made 1 of 2 at the foul line. Loper made it a one-possession game, 68-65, with a drive to the basket with 26.6 seconds to play. Executive senior forward Elijah Styles intercepted a Panthers pass and eventually scored a putback to make it 68-67.<\/p>\n

Bethlehem Christian broke through Executive\u2019s pressure, and Harris scored a layup with 9 seconds remaining, stretching the advantage to 70-67.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like the way they battled even when [Executive] made runs,\u201d DeJesus said. \u201c … Our defense was better. I liked how we played as a team and the guys stepped up with the things we asked them to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Raptors were sent to the foul line and never got an opportunity at a game-tying 3-pointer.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were down three, we were down one, we just couldn\u2019t make that extra big shot to get over the hump.\u201d Barbosa said. \u201cIt was just one of those days.\u201d<\/p>\n

Barbosa, who was forced to sit for most of the game after the Raptors bench was assessed a technical foul midway through the second quarter, wasn\u2019t pleased with the officiating.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think we played our best,\u201d Barbosa said. \u201cBut, I\u2019m going to be honest, I think the officiating around here has to be better. When we\u2019re in big games like this, we expect to have veteran referees on these games. I just don\u2019t feel like those guys were experienced enough to be there.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Raptors coach wasn\u2019t thrilled with his team\u2019s defensive performance either.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t defend anybody,\u201d he said. \u201cThey scored 70 points. We\u2019re never going to beat a team like Bethlehem Christian giving up 70 points. I expected a better effort defensively.\u201d<\/p>\n

Executive finished with four players scoring in double figures: Tung (17), Loper (13), Matthew Sancho (12) and Styles (10). The Raptors will try to get back in the win column Thursday when they travel to Cheltenham.<\/p>\n

Swift followed Transue\u2019s 30 with 27 points for the Panthers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels nice. Everyone doubts us,\u201d Transue said. \u201cThey think, \u2018Oh, you guys can only beat Christian schools. You only average that many points because you play the Christian schools.\u2019 It\u2019s nice to come in and show that we can hang with some good teams.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tuesday\u2019s result gives Bethlehem Christian, the defending District 11 Class A champion, a boost with the postseason on the horizon.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is like our big test before districts to get us ready,\u201d Swift said. \u201cStates, too \u2013 this is probably one of the teams that compares to what we\u2019ll play in states. It\u2019s a good test for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bethlehem Christian is trying to build on consecutive appearances in the PIAA second round.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a state-level game,\u201d DeJesus said. \u201cThe atmosphere is what we need, especially with the games we\u2019ll have in districts and states. \u2026 Winning this game is great, but we have to use this game and grow. There are things we\u2019ve still got to work on.\u201d<\/p>\n

2,000-point boys basketball scorers<\/p>\n

from lehighvalleylive.com coverage area<\/p>\n

2,722, Larry Miller, Catasauqua, 1960-64<\/p>\n

2,234, Tom Kresge, Lehighton, 1983-87<\/p>\n

2,202, Ray Barbosa, Allen, 1999-03<\/p>\n

2,199, Jacob Lewis, Lehigh Christian, 2021-25<\/p>\n

2,136, Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman, Allentown Central Catholic, 2010-14<\/p>\n

2,123, Nick Coval, Parkland, 2020-24<\/p>\n

2,103, Glen Nanius, North Warren, 2010-14<\/p>\n

2,077, Antoine Hubbard, Salisbury, 1990-93<\/p>\n

2,051, Billy McCaffrey, Allentown Central Catholic, 1986-89<\/p>\n

2,022, Gabe Transue, Bethlehem Christian, 2022-present<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Bethlehem Christian boys basketball program has accomplished a lot in a short period of time. Now, with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":105377,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,154],"class_list":["post-105376","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem-headlines","tag-bethlehem-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105376","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=105376"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105376\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/105377"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=105376"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=105376"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=105376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}