For the Hall brothers, winning a tournament in their literal backyard was something special.

Phil and Derek Hall, both former standouts at Northampton High, paced a Tony’s Top Cat bar and Grill, a locally-based team to the title with a 54-51 win over defending champion Nites recently in the final of the 27th version of the Tournament of Champions at the Catty playground.

Phil Hall, who has been playing overseas the past few years, led the team with 15 points, while brother Phil, an assistant coach for Northampton’s boys’ basketball program, added nine points in the victory. Several ex-Catasauqua high school players filtered the Top Cat roster.

Top Cat was the Stiles League regular season champion, while Nites won the Catty League.

“We had a good feeling about winning this thing,” said James Snyder, a former Roughie player. “We really had great chemistry on this team as we all have played together for a long time. It again was a great tournament and we had outstanding crowds the entire time.”

Tournament director and Catty head boys’ basketball coach Eric Snyder was pleased with the latest version of the 12-team tournament.

“I thought everything went very well,” said Snyder. “Like the final, we had a lot of close games. All of the teams were well balanced and there were a lot of good vibes and feedback overall. The Bangor team was very good and they were a force to be dealt with. Having the college guys playing really helps a lot. It was a couple of days of really good basketball and the weather held out for us.

“The Nites were missing some players in the final, but it proved to be a great game. You knew the game was going to be a good one when it was scoreless for the first four minutes. It also was great to see the Catty kids in the final.”

With the victory, Top Cat continued a string of individual champions in the tournament over the past 10 years. G&S and Atkins were two teams that had won multi-championships in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Rock Hill also was a repeat champion in the 1990s.

Despite the fleeting amount of local leagues and tournaments, Snyder is confident the Tournament of Champions can be a viable option for several more years. He noted how the recent beginnings of an Allentown-based league along with the steadiness of the Stiles League remain positive signs for continued league play.

He entertained the thought of having the Catty and North Catty League champions play each other in either a single game or three-game set prior to the Tournament of Champions, alike the old annual Mayor’s Trophy Game between the Mets and Yankees.

“It would be something neat to see,” said Snyder. “It looks like we’ll have every league coming back next year. This was a very good tournament and we hope we can keep this going for a while.”