Edward Hudak grabbed a rebound and quickly sank a five foot shot that just beat the buzzer to end the first half.

Bethlehem Catholic (13-11) went into the locker room only down by two, and now riding some momentum. But Allentown Central Catholic (23-3) came out fast and used a 49 point second-half to cruise past the Golden Hawks 89-61 and win the District 11 3A championship last Friday night at Easton Area Middle School.

"A couple of things didn't go our way," said head coach Mike Frew. "Transition defense got us all night long. They made a variety of shots with different guys. There was some breakdown in our communication. It was tough to come back on."

The opening half was fast-paced, and featured six lead changes. Jamal Aziz opened the scoring with a layup. There was plenty of scoring, but defense also highlighted this game.

Matt Husek brought excitement to the crowd with two first quarter blocks, one of them coming on a fast-break layup attempt by league MVP Muhammad Ali Abdur-Rahkman.

Husek and Freddie Simmons answered each and every Vikings basket, and helped keep Becahi afloat.

The Golden Hawks found themselves down eight in the second quarter, thanks to two straight 3-pointers by Mike Kammerer, who had a game-high 27 points. But Brandon Porter tied it at 31 with just over 2 minutes to go with a 3 of his own.

Central held a four point lead in the waning seconds of the second, when Simmons launched a 3 that hit off the rim. Hudak jumped for the rebound, and put it back just as the buzzer sounded. Becahi could jog to the locker room in excitement.

But as the teams came out of the locker rooms, the Vikings felt something needed to change. They scored nine straight, including two dunks from Abdur-Rahkman, and took their first double digit lead.

That proved to be too much to overcome, as Becahi never got any closer than nine after that.

"They continued to put the pressure on us and shared the ball and played within themselves, and that's a tough thing to guard," noted Frew. "We gave up way too many points for us to be in the game. We scored in the 60s and gave up in the 80s. Even if we were at our best on the offensive end, that's a tough game to win when you give up that many points."

Bethlehem Catholic will still move on to the PIAA state tournament, which will begin this Friday night.

Husek and Simmons both contributed 15 points, Justin Lenzer tallied 9, and Darwin Saint-Cyr notched seven.