Part of the soundtrack of summer includes the steady beat of basketballs thumping against the concrete courts, along with the accompaniment of whistles blowing at Cedar Beach Park in Allentown.

Crowds gather along the chainlink fence to get a more intimate view of some of the players that will be playing inside high school gymnasiums this winter.

And while it's not officially summer, the off-season is in full swing as teams are looking to acclimate some new faces as they gear up for varsity competition.

Amid that scenario is the team from Whitehall who are once again immersed in the Stellar Summer Basketball League. Whitehall participates in the Big School Division which encompasses 15 schools, and last Thursday they met Emmaus for their fourth game of the season. And while they lost 48-45, the final outcome isn't as important as getting g to see players and how they handle game situations.

In that game, only Mikey Esquilin and Logan McGinley were on last year's varsity team. The rest of the squad were on the junior varsity, and this gave them the chance to play against a veteran Emmaus squad that included the Kachelries twins, Brandon Rapose and Joey Polczynski.

One player who made his presence felt was Devin Martinez. Martinez was a workhorse inside, fighting for ever loose ball as helped Whitehall vault out to a 24-20 halftime lead.

His hustle inside kept Emmaus from dominating underneath, whether it was crashing the defensive boards or putting back offensive rebounds.

"He did a good job rebounding," said Corey Frantz who coaches the team during the Stellar Summer League. "We're trying to stress to these guys that we need five guys on the boards, and while it wasn't always that, he certainly held his own tonight."

Kayden Walschburger was another player who opened some eyes, hitting some late threes to keep the Zephs close down the stretch. Frantz said that Walschburger was able to drain those buckets when Emmaus tried to space them out as time was winding down.

Also contributing were Andre Diokmedian, Zach Gilbert, Jackson Buskirk, Nicholas Herman, Hunter Ker, Kasai Harrison, Eric Johnson, Justin Marrero and Charles Hudson, who threw in down during the game.

Hudson's slam came on a fast break after he stole the ball just shy of midcourt, beating the defenders downcourt on his way to a rim rocker, eliciting some oohs from the crowd.

"He has a lot of potential; he's extremely athletic," said Frantz. "He's still learning. He just moved here last year, and he's still learning what we do."

Whitehall is 1-3 so far this summer. But the bigger picture is that every game is an opportunity for growth. Frantz said that it's been a learning experience so far.

"We're trying to grow playing together, and getting better as a group, and getting them experience at the varsity level," said Frantz. "It's a big adjustment, and we had success as jayvees last year, but making this step to the varsity level is a big adjustment."

Frantz said the effort's been good this spring, and they're trying to cut down on their turnovers, along with the constant reinforcement of rebounding the ball.