The high school basketball season concluded last Saturday in the annual Via All-Star Classic held at Northampton Area Community College.

With the first two games between the Lehigh Valley West and Colonial League boys and girls each being decided by two points, it was up to the Lehigh Valley East and Mountain Valley Conference boys and girls in the afternoon portion to keep the exciting games going. And they did not disappoint the fans.

After a break in the action from the opening two games for the Special Olympics shootout, the girls took the court in what would be their final action as high school players.

It looked as if the LVC was going to run away with this one. They took a 39-28 lead into halftime, and held a double-digit lead for a majority of the second half.

But thanks to big a couple of three-pointers from Angelica Bertola (Notre Dame East Stroudsburg) and Lisa Steakin (East Stroudsburg South), the MVC was able to come all the way back, and even had a shot at the buzzer to win it in regulation, but the game would go to overtime.

Ashley Husser (Freedom) helped her team's cause with four of her 12 points in the extra period, and the LVC came out on top 85-83. Nicole Amann (Liberty) tallied ten points, Dominique Oyeniyi (Liberty) contributed five points, and Brenna Dosedlo (Freedom) added four.

In the final game of the day, the first half again was misleading to what would be the final outcome of a game. The MVC boys came out firing with dunks and three-pointers. They had a 58-45 advantage at the half thanks to sharp-shooting from Jacob Battle (Stroudsburg) and Joe Wiggins (PM West), each with ten first half points.

Like a typical all-star game, there was a lot of offense on display, and not much defensively. The LVC began hitting three-pointers to climb back into the game.

Big men Deshawn Oyeniyi (Liberty) and David Williams (Freedom) were able to throw down some crowd pleasing dunks.

With the teams trading baskets toward the end of regulation, the MVC was up three with just two seconds left. Williams took the inbounds pass and his shot from just inside half court hit off the rim, and the MVC took this one 125-122.

Nigel Long (Freedom) finished with 14 points as the team's starting point guard. Oyeniyi had 21 and Williams scored 23 points. Eddie Hudak (Bethlehem Catholic) contributed three points and Justin Lenzer (Bethlehem Catholic) notched ten points.

"It's fun getting to play with some of the best players in the Lehigh Valley Conference," Long said. "We only were able to practice once as a team, but we just clicked right away. It was a typical all-star game, and everyone had fun, so that's all that matters."