Pleasant Valley boys' basketball coach Ken Piontkowski has been on the other side of the fence in regards to coaching against some of the Mountain Valley's elite talent during the season. On Saturday during the Via All-Star Basketball Classic at Northampton Community College, Piontkowski got to bask in the glow of having those former MVC players shine during a 97-82 victory over the Lehigh Valley East Blue squad.

Pocono Mountain West's Tynell Fortune stole the show with his dazzling 35-point performance, where he went 7-for-18 from behind the arc to stifle any type of Lehigh Valley East run when the squad made up of players primarily from Northampton County pulled within 81-79 with just over four minutes left on the clock. That's when the MVC closed out the contest with a 16-3 run that highlighted Fortune's and Pocono Mountain East's Lamont Tillery's (22 points) offensive capabilities, as both took over late to secure the win.Piontkowski knew the game was all in fun, but also that his team had a chip on their shoulder playing their Lehigh Valley counterparts."I think there's a perception that we're not as good as the teams from the Valley, from a depth standpoint," Piontkowski said. "Our kids had confidence in what we could do and they wanted to win. I think we had a little more motivation."Pleasant Valley's Mike Sharpe (five points) and Eric Wild (one point) were the local players on the MVC squad.In the girls contest, the Lehigh Valley East Blue outmanned the MVC squad handily to the tune of 76-47. The size advantage that the East squad had with the likes of Erika Livermore (Nazareth, 14 points), Kara Bonenberger (Northampton, six points), Allison Braithwaite (Northampton, seven points) and Shannon Smith (Becahi, four points) made every MVC bucket a tough task.Pleasant Valley's Kasey Meckes tied a team high with 10 points, as she drained three treys in the loss. Other area players on the MVC squad were Meckes' Bear teammate Megan Hardy (five points) and Lehighton's Jordyn Homyak (eight points) and Katie Green (zero points).In games played earlier in the day, the Colonial League girls used their size and determination to dominate the Lehigh Valley West squad 77-58. An entertaining boys game ended with the Lehigh Valley West overcoming a three-point barrage for a 97-95 win over the Colonial League boys.The girls team had a decided height advantage and played a full-court press most of the game to down the Lehigh Valley team. The Colonial League had built a 48-27 lead at halftimeand built it to as much as 26 points midway through the second half."A lot of people really give the credit to the Lehigh Valley Conference, but there's a bunch of good girls in the Colonial League, obviously," Northern Lehigh senior Sonya Josephson said. "We had a lot of great players and you just want to prove a point sometimes."Josephson, who was named to the Via Team of the Year earlier in the week, scored three points all on free throws. Her teammate Lauren Oertner scored six, while Palmerton's Casey Rinfret scored five. Palmerton senior Katie Reimer also played in the game, but didn't score. Leading the way for the girls was Southern Lehigh's Eleni Dimou with 16 points.In the boys matchup, the Colonial League stars shot the lights out from behind the arc in the first half, before succumbing to a more athletic Lehigh Valley team. The Colonial stars led by as many as 16 at two times in the first half, riding the hot hand of Notre Dame's Adam Ambielli, who lead he team with 21.But Whitehall's Javier Rivera almost single-handedly brought the Lehigh Valley West back from a 10-point halftime deficit, scoring his team's first 11 points of the second half and finishing with 29. The Lehigh Valley stars took the lead on a Jordan Adams layin to make it 62-60 and didn't trail the rest of the game.Northern Lehigh's Jordan Waylen scored nine for the Colonial League stars.GIRLSColonial League RedDimou 6-2-2-16, Gibson 1-0-0-2, Steen 3-0-0-6, Oertner 3-0-0-6, Reimer 0-0-0-0, Rinfret 2-1-2-5, Cinelli 2-0-0-4, Lively 1-0-2-2, Doell 4-0-0-8, Josephson 0-3-3-3, Van Buren 6-2-6-14, Vough 3-4-4-11. TOTALS: 31-12-19-77Lehigh Valley West BlackAbreau 1-1-2-3, Goodwin 0-5-8-5, Smith 1-0-0-2, Hess 1-4-6-6, Hagenauer 3-0-0-6, Stefanyak 1-0-0-2, Styles 6-1-3-12, Gilley 1-2-4-4, Church 8-0-2-17, Fritsche 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 22-13-24-58.Colonial Red 48 29 - 77LV West Black 27 31 - 58Three-pointers: CL - Dimou 2, Vough 1; LVW - Church 1Lehigh Valley East BlueCarpenter 1 2-4 4, Kessler 2 1-2 5, Gary 2 0-0 4, Taylor-Bay 2 3-4 7, O'Connell 2 1-2 6, Aziz 4 1-3 9, Smith 2 0-0 4, Livermore 7 0-0 14, Owens 1 0-0 2, Braithwaite 3 1-2 7, Weller 3 2-6 8, Bonenberger 3 0-0 6. Total 32 11-23 76.Mountain Valley GrayLipe 0 2-3 2, Williams 0 0-0 0, Myles 0 0-0 0, McLean 1 3-3 5, Marshall 1 1-2 3, Homyak 3 2-2 8, Meckes 3 1-2 10, Schickling 3 2-2 10, Drodz 0 2-3 2, Hicks 1 0-0 2, Hardy 1 2-4 5, Green 0 0-2 0. Total 13 15-23 47.MVC Gray 20 27 - 47LV East Blue 40 36 - 76Three-pointers: MVC: Meckes 3, Schickling 2, Hardy 1. LVE: O'Connell 1.BOYSColonial League RedCarey 1-0-0-2, Mulitsch 2-0-0-5, Bouch 3-0-0-6, Waylen 4-0-0-9, Ambielli 7-3-4-21, Parris 7-2-4-17, Bernard 2-0-0-6, Baker 1-0-0-3, Schantz 1-2-2-4, Clark 1-2-2-4, Frans 6-3-4-18. TOTALS: 35-12-16-95Lehigh Valley West BlackKinek 0-0-0-0, Perry 3-0-0-6, Rivera 11-4-6-29, McKellick 1-0-0-3, Sullivan 1-0-0-3, Harrington 5-2-3-12, Allende 1-0-0-3, Adams 1-3-4-5, Brochu 2-1-2-5, Howard 2-0-1-5, Holiday 4-1-4-9, Cannon 7-3-4-17. TOTALS: 38-14-24-97Colonial Red 47 48 - 95LV West Black 37 60 - 97Three-pointers: CL - Ambielli 4, Bernard 2, Mulitsch 1, Waylen 1, Parris 1, Baker 1, Frans 1; LVW - Rivera 3, McKellick 1, Sullivan 1, Allende 1, Howard 1Mountain Valley GrayLong 1 0-0 3, Wild 0 1-2 1, Pacheco 3 3-3 9, Fortune 11 6-8 35, Poorman 0 0-0 0, Fabian 1 0-0 2, Escobar 3 2-6 8, Sharpe 2 1-1 5, Cooper 5 0-0 12, Tillery 10 1-1 22, Anema 0 0-0 0. Total 36 14-21 97.Lehigh Valley East BlueHungarter 3 0-0 6, Rivera 4 0-0 9, Dally 1 0-0 3, Giovarelli 4 0-0 8, Hilliard 8 2-3 20, Holmes 4 0-0 9, Dibilio 6 2-7 14, Higgs 2 1-5 5, Kent 1 0-0 2, Sullivan 0 0-0 0, McDonald 3 0-1 6, McCutcheon 0 0-2 0. Total 36 5-16 82.MVC Gray 46 51 - 97LV East Blue 30 52 - 82Three-pointers: MVC: Fortune 7, Cooper 2, Tillery 1, Long 1. LVE: Hilliard 2, Rivera 1, Dally 1, Holmes 1.