Just 24 hours after a high-octane and intense showdown of Lehigh Valley Conference leaders, one can not fault a letdown. One night after falling to the state No. 3 ranked and undefeated Central Catholic Vikings, Parkland (15-4 overall, 8-4 LVC) was right back in action, but their legs may not have been.

After coming all the way back from down nine points with under three minutes to go, the Trojans were stunned by a last-second shot from 6-foot-7 sophomore Andrew Hudak (19 points), and Bethlehem Catholic left Parkland high school last Wednesday night 53-51 victors giving Parkland back-to-back losses for the first time this season, and snapping its own three-game losing streak.

"We played great defense at the end of the game, but the problem was we didn't play defense the whole night up to that point," head coach Andy Stephens said. "You could say it was physically and emotionally draining coming off [Tuesday] night, but I would expect that to last just a couple of minutes. We just didn't play well. It's totally disappointing."

The Trojans were once again without senior Nick Rindock because of an ankle injury, but Stephens expects him back for the season finale Friday night against Whitehall, just in time for league and district playoffs.

Without its leading scorer, Parkland struggled to find consistent, easy offense. Sophomore Kyle Stout did his part with three first-half three-pointers, two coming in the second quarter, to put his team up by as much as 17-10 midway through the quarter.

Becahi still trailed 29-26 at halftime, but back-to-back baskets by Hudak off two of Freddie Simmons' seven assists put the Golden Hawks in front early in the third quarter and set the tone for the remainder of the game.

Julian Spigner scored five points in the first 90 seconds of the final period to give Becahi a 45-38 lead and when Hudak converted a Jamal Aziz feed, the Golden Hawks were up nine with just over two minutes left.

But Becahi turnovers and a missed free throw along with three-pointers by Zajko and Stout fueled an 11-2 Parkland surge that looked like it might lead to the Trojans' sixth overtime game of the season. They tied the game off a three-point play by Zajko with 28 seconds left.

But after a couple of timeouts from each team, Hudak took a pass from Aziz on the left block and then turned and faded away from defender Sam Iorio for a 12-foot bank shot with 2.6 seconds left. A desperation heave from halfcourt would not fall for the Trojans.

Parkland rebounded with a win over Northampton on Tueesday. The Trojans finish the regular season Friday night against Whitehall.