Northampton head boys' basketball coach Coy Stampone knows his team will develop into his system and emerge as a competitive force in the Lehigh Valley Conference this season. However, they must initially place into place before they can take some steps.

"We need to play four quarters of solid basketball, and that's one thing we haven't done," said the first-year coach after his team dropped their fourth straight to remain winless on the season beginning play Monday. "We have had games recently in which we have played 2 and 3 quarters of good basketball, but we need to have a total game.

"The effort is there. We just have to execute and make the right choices on the floor."

In their defense, the Konkrete Kids haven't had an easy road to start the season. They opened the year with consecutive Friday night-Saturday afternoon contest. Both afternoon games were against Central Catholic and Salisbury, arguably two of the better teams in the Lehigh Valley.

Consequently, the Kids have dropped double-digit defeats in each of their losses, the closest being a 46-34 loss to Whitehall Friday night, a game Stampone thought his team could capture its first win.

"We started slow and fell behind," recalled Stampone about the Whitehall game. "We came back and then tied it (20-20) at halftime. In the third quarter, we took the lead and I thought we were in a good position. But then they (Whitehall) outscored us 15-3 in the final quarter.

"We didn't shoot the ball well and made some bad choices. It was a game that got away from us."

With a new system in place that requires his team to patiently work for an open shoot, Stampone understands it will take some time.

"We have some guys who can shoot the (3-pointer), but we have been too trigger-happy outside," stated Stampone. "We haven't been running the offense through enough and that has hurt us.

"We saw that when we played Salisbury. We were taking the outside shots and not making them, and Salisbury was penetrating on us. In that game, they (Salisbury) went to the foul line 27 times and we only went five times.

"It was our fault that we didn't get there enough. We have to keep making adjustments to have a total game."

Stampone has been pleased with the play of senior guard Kyle George, who has paced the Kids' in scoring as well as his floor play. Senior Boston Leaswitch returned to the lineup against Salisbury after a knee injury and had a team-high 12 points. Junior Dylan Cook has also been a steady contributor and chipped in with 11 points against Salisbury.

The Kids will also benefit with the return of 6-foot-7 senior center Derek Kulp this week.

"We do have some depth on this team especially now with Boston (Leaswitch) and Derek (Kulp) back," noted Stampone. "We have nine juniors on this team and it will bode well for our future. But we have to concentrate on our future right now."

That future doesn't plan on being any easier this week. The Kids opened play Tuesday night against Parkland and then will host Nazareth Friday night. This season, they won't host their annual tournament, but they will meet Blue Mountain (Dec. 27) and Catasauqua (Dec. 28) on consecutive nights after Christmas.

To deal with the continued apparent onslaught, Stampone has suggested his team take a different approach. Stampone admitted picking up that vaulted first win will also help matters.

"We played Saturday and then had one day to prepare for Parkland," he said. "But we want to focus on us. We want the focus now to be on Northampton instead of worrying about who we are going to play.

"We're going to work on a number of things in practice. This team hasn't had this coaching staff's thumbprint on it yet, but it will. I'm confident we'll get this team headed in the right direction."

Playing four quarters will also help steer them down the right path.