Joe Stellato knows his team has plenty of room for improvement and Freedom showed that on Sunday during their 55-42 loss to Central Catholic on Sunday in the Yasso-Rothrock Christmas City Classic.

As the middle contest of the three game-slate on Sunday at Liberty’s Memorial Gymnasium, the Patriots (3-2, 2-1) saw their 14-6 second quarter lead evaporate on Zay Jennings game-high 28 points to push the Vikings (4-1, 3-0) to victory.

“I thought we played a good first half,” Stellato said. “Central just started shooting the ball really well and we put up too many bad shots.”

Central led 23-19 at the half, but roared out in front in the third quarter, outscoring the Pates by 12, to lead 43-27 entering the final frame.

The Pates struggled to get consistent scoring, as Najee Cash led the team with nine points, but only connected on one three-pointer from the field.

Stellato would like to see the team’s shot selection improve, as well as their care of the basketball as they move towards this week’s games against Bethlehem Catholic, Stroudsburg and Quakertown.

“The turnovers are killing us every game,” he said. “We are averaging 25 turnovers a game. We got to do a better job taking care of the ball. We also tend to dribble too much and we’re not finding the open man. We got to get better in those areas.”

Bethlehem Catholic was the lone winner from the city of Bethlehem on Sunday’s slate, as they kick-started the day with a 73-60 win over Dieurff.

Kweku Dawson-Amoah led all scorers with 27 points and grabbed 15 rebounds to help Becahi (2-2, 1-1) to their first league win of the season.

The Hawks took on Freedom last night and travel to East Stroudsburg South Friday night to cap off their week.