With the bulls-eye square on Parkland's back this year, the Trojans proved they're going to be a tough bunch to beat this season as they opened play last weekend.

Parkland won on back-to-back nights to open their campaign, posting a 56-50 road win at Stroudsburg last Friday night followed by a 74-46 thrashing over Bethlehem Catholic Saturday afternoon during the 11th annual Yasso-Rothrock Christmas City Classic.

Devante Cross scored 17 points for Parkland and took home the team's MVP award from Saturday's game, as the Trojans (2-0) were never threatened against a young Becahi (0-1) team that was missing two starters from the football team.

Parkland held Becahi to four points in the first quarter and seven points through the first 15 minutes of action, leading their way to a 38-18 halftime lead.

Head coach Andy Stephens was cautious about his team's outlook, despite the prognostications and hype surrounding his team this year.

"We only had nine guys today, so it gave everyone a chance to get some major minutes out there," Stephens said. "We can definitely score and we can shoot the ball better, but the competitiveness and energy the first two nights were really good for us.

"I'm not going to shy away from the target on us in any way. I think we're that good, but we need to get better and we need to work. We have three guys that have not really played varsity basketball before, so we're going to have some ups and downs."

Cross showed that his legs were fresh for the hardwood, was the leader for Parkland last Saturday and Stephens admitted he was surprised with his ability to adjust from football season so quickly.

"I noticed that the first day of practice and he really hasn't missed a beat," said Stephens of Cross. "He's competing and shooting the ball well. He's showing really good signs of leadership and I think a lot of that is a spill over from football season being the quarterback. Kenny [Yeboah] is still a little nicked up, but he's playing excellent as well. The two of them took one day off from football and were back at it on Monday ready to go."

Parkland's contest against Pocono Mountain West for Tuesday night was postponed due to inclement weather. The Trojans travel to East Stroudsburg South Friday night and then host Scranton Prep on Saturday night to fill out their week.

A week that Stephens knows his team should be able to come out without a blemish, but certainly with lessons learned.

"I think each game early in the year will show us what we need to work on," he said. "There's definitely some inexperience there. We have a lot of talent, but there's a lot of inexperience. I don't care what about anybody says, JV basketball is a lot different than varsity basketball and until they get used to that we might struggle in some aspects."