The Parkland boys basketball program saw itself in an unfamiliar spot two weekends ago at the Stellar Catch A Rising Star Showcase. The Trojans were eliminated before Sunday’s playoff action. Champions the year prior, the team had an earlier exit than usually expected of the Trojans.

But last weekend was a different story. Parkland was back to playing deep into the summer premier tournaments, advancing to the Elite 8 before dropping a seven-point game to eventual champ Liberty at the Sportsfest A-town Throwdown event held at Cedar Beach Park in Allentown.

“When you play without some key guys like we did last weekend [at Stellar], certain guys have to step up,” said head coach Andy Stephens. “I think a lot of guys did that this weekend. We talk about finding our identity, because we’re not going to be the same team as in the last couple of years. We’re going to be playing different style of basketball, and the guys are starting to figure out their individual roles. For us to be successful, we will have to play good defense and make shots as a whole.”

The Trojans were once again without senior Sam Iorio (AAU tournament) and Michael Ruisch was injured, but players like Michael Zeky, Zach Bross, Matt Persichetti, Jake Bartholomew and Logan Rindock stepped up and helped the Trojans see a successful weekend this time around.

Parkland finished the group stage (4 teams) at 2-1, with only a two-point loss to Central Dauphin East as the only blemish coming out of the round-robin style format.

On Friday evening, they opened up the event with two games, and two wins. They beat Colonial League opponent Palmerton 40-22 in the opener, and then took down Harry S. Truman 60-44 in the nightcap a few hours later.

On Saturday evening, the Trojans fell just short of finishing the group undefeated, losing to District 3 power CD East 54-52.

“I thought we played them well,” said Stephens, “We didn’t have our best overall game, but we hung in there until the very end. I was disappointed, not just in the way it ended, but how we played. I thought the other two games were great in how we came out and played, and they were both double-digit wins.”

In the first round of the playoffs Sunday morning, Bross led the way with 13 points for a 53-45 victory against Bensalem. But in the quarterfinal round, they ran into a hot team and just didn’t have enough in the end.

Liberty, who two weeks ago made it to the Final Four of Stellar, is well-balanced in the front court and back court, used its speed and athleticism to its advantage. Jeremy Johnson and Alex Serrano both had twelve points for the Hurricanes.

“They are a good team with a lot of players that can beat you,” Stephens said. “They’re playing good basketball lately and were the better team today.”

The summer season is not yet over for the Trojans, however. They will square off against Bangor in the summer league playoff quarterfinals Tuesday, with the semifinals and final slated for Thursday and Friday nights.