BETHLEHEM - The 42nd Annual Via All-Star Basketball Classic was played Saturday at Northampton Community College, pitting senior all-stars against one another in four separate games. The West squads featured seniors from Pleasant Valley, Northern Lehigh and Northwestern.

The West came up on the short end of the score in both games, with the girls falling 56-49 and the boys suffering a 121-97 loss.In the girls game, the lead bounced back and forth with the East squad taking a 31-28 lead going into halftime when Freedom's Meckenzie Herman hit a three-pointer at the buzzer. The game remained close in the third quarter, but the West trailed 40-36 with time running out. That's when Pleasant Valley's Joyce Sullivan buried a three-pointer of her own to make it 40-39.The East squad put on a run late in the fourth quarter, stretching their lead to 10 points at one point.Sullivan finished with 12 points, the second-highest total on the West team. Northampton's Aja Blount led the West with 15, while Herman led all scorers with 16.Pleasant Valley's Sullivan, Kalla Borden and Natalia Salmon were all smiles after the game. The three admitted that it was a good time and a special event."Being around the other teams that we have to play against, it was good to get to play with them on the same team, and we had a lot of fun," said Sullivan."It was fun," said Borden. "Because you get to play against these girls that you have been playing against all throughout high school and meet some new people. I had a good time."In most all-star games, playing defense is an afterthought for many of the players, but for Salmon, conceding points to any of her opponents just wasn't an option. As a result, she had the dubious distinction of leading all players with four fouls in the game."Yeah, it's the life of a big," laughed Salmon. "The moral of my basketball career ... don't play help defense. It was a cool."Defense was sorely lacking in the boy's game, which turned into more of a slam dunk and three-point shooting exhibition. The two teams combined to hit 24 three-pointers and countless dunks. While Salmon was called for four fouls in the girls game, there were just four fouls total in the boys contest. Parkland's Sam Iorio led the West team with 28 points. Easton's Arnel Lewis led the East with 30.Northern Lehigh's Joe Egan and Northwestern's Robbie Seyfried, who are on traditional rivals during the season, were on the same side in this game. Both stuck to more of a fundamental style of play, with Egan scoring eight points and Seyfried finishing with four."We compete against each other all the time," noted Egan of the Northwestern and Northern Lehigh rivalry. "It was nice to team up and see what we can do. It was good to get a chance to get all these guys in the same gym and get a chance to play."Seyfried agreed with Egan that it was a great opportunity to get to play together, not just with each other, but with other players who they've been on the other side of the court from. He was also grateful for the opportunity to play in the annual game."It was an honor just to be recognized as one of the better seniors and just to go out and play," pointed out Seyfried.MORE THAN JUST BASKETBALL ... The Via All-Star Basketball Classic is more than just the four games played on Saturday. The event also features clinics, a scholarship award and an All-Star Banquet. This year's speaker at the banquet was former NFL linebacker, commentator and team executive Matt Millen, who graduated from Whitehall High School, played his college ball at Penn State under Joe Paterno and then played 12 seasons in the NFL with the Raiders, 49ers and Redskins, winning a Super Bowl with each team.