If there’s one sentiment that Freedom players should have taken away from their 81-76 loss to Bethlehem Catholic last Friday night, it’s that they can compete with anyone.

The Patriots (6-7) became the first team in the Lehigh Valley to push Becahi (10-1) to the limit in last week’s affair, but just as 10 other teams have tried this season to knock off the Hawks, Joe Stellato’s bunch came up on the wrong side of the box score in the defeat.

“The Beca game confirmed to the locker room that we can play with anyone,” said Stellato. “We just need to continue to work on executing. We need to improve on executing in half court offense. We are working on it and are getting better.”

Dylan Arnold led the Pates with 19 points, hitting five threes in the loss to the Hawks, while Chrystian Simmons and Caleb Mims each added 12 apiece.

What the Pates couldn’t deal with was the combination of Justin Paz and Ryan Young for Becahi, as Paz scored 24 and Young had a game-high 31 points, going 12-of-14 from the free throw line.

Freedom led 58-56 heading into the fourth quarter, but saw the Hawks close out the fourth with a seven-point advantage for the win.

The Pates haven’t been able to string together consecutive wins since beating Southern Lehigh and Dieruff just before Christmas and consistency is one big area of focus that Stellato is harping as they head into an important week with Allen on Tuesday night, followed by East Stroudsburg South on Wednesday and Pocono Mountain West on Friday.

“Consistency is key and we need to continue to stress taking good shots the entire game,” Stellato said. “High percentage shots. It is important for us to game plan for one game at a time. Tuesday’s game with Allen is the most important game of the year.”

Liberty (6-7) has started the new year 4-1 with their first loss coming last week in a 67-66 defeat to Allen.

The Hurricanes took on Easton Tuesday night in a pivotal division showdown and then have contests with Stroudsburg and Quakertown on Friday and Saturday.