The Cedar Beach Showcase is a high school boys basketball tournament that has had a few different names in the past, but the one constant was its outdoor presence at Cedar Beach Park in Allentown.

This year, however, the event was moved fully indoors to Whitehall High School, something the staff would do when it rained, which would interrupt the schedule.

This year, they wanted to keep it easier and make the switch indoors full time.

The Lehighton, Northern Lehigh and Panther Valley varsity boys teams headed down to Whitehall for the four-day tournament, which began last Thursday (July 10). The Indians finished the weekend 2-2 overall, the Bulldogs were 1-2 and the Panthers were 0-2.

Northern Lehigh was the lone team of the trio to win its first game, defeating Pen Argyl 56-21 on Thursday night, behind a game-high 27 points from Kellen Bauer. The Bulldogs, however, would lose their next two games, 40-27 to Southern Lehigh on Saturday morning and then 70-44 against Lehighton later Saturday afternoon.

“The guys have been coming together and really clicking from the start of summer,” said head coach Jacob Waylen “We’ve been playing in the summer league here, and so at this point in the summer, things are starting to come together. That’s what you saw in our first game against Pen Argyl. Guys are playing cohesively as a unit and I’ve been really proud of their efforts and I think that’s why we got off to a hot start in the tournament.”

The Bulldogs have been getting better each and every week this summer and getting a lot of gym time, through the Lehigh Valley summer league and last weekend’s tournament, but also the workouts in their own gym on their own time.

“These kids are very hardworking,” Waylen said. “They have a lot of natural talent, but are also willing to grow and willing to find where they need improvement. We’ve been getting in the gym a couple times a week outside of our summer league games, so they’re staying active.”

Lehighton fell to Kutztown in its opening game on Friday night, but bounced back with back-to-back victories on Saturday afternoon, taking down Panther Valley 50-35 with Cole Dietz recording 16 points, and then beating the Bulldogs 70-44 behind 31 points from Dietz. Later that evening, however, the Indians’ run came to an end as they were downed 42-36 to Notre Dame Green Pond.

“We played the weekend without seniors Blake Roberts and Caden Meek,” said Lehighton head coach Trevor Miller. “Cole Dietz didn’t play our last game against Notre Dame either.

“Overall, I was very pleased with how our younger players stepped up with us, missing multiple guys for this tournament. I thought we gained a lot of quality experience for kids that haven’t played a lot of varsity minutes.”

The Panthers lost their opener last Thursday night to eventual champion Salisbury, losing 51-30. They fell for the second time on Saturday afternoon to Lehighton to conclude their weekend.

In the Small School Division championship game, the Falcons defeated Southern Lehigh 59-58 in overtime.