The Bash at the Beach will take place this weekend at Cedar Beach and all three Bethlehem schools will look to make a push to last until Sunday’s action.

With a lot of teams across the EPC already playing in the Cedar Beach summer league, this weekend’s tournament [the former Stellar event] amplifies the intensity and competition levels.

Bethlehem Catholic head coach Scott McClary, fresh off an EPC and district championship season, is using the summer as an opportunity to see the program grow after losing stars Justin Paz and Kyle Young to graduation.

“We are looking forward to the tournament down at Cedar Beach,” said McClary. “It is always a great event for Lehigh Valley high school hoops. We are approaching the summer strictly from a growth mindset. Not that we don’t try to compete and win as much as possible, but we are giving everyone opportunities and are playing a very watered down style of basketball that we hope will maximize players ability to individually improve. We do return three starters, but those guys will be taking on drastically different roles and responsibilities with the upcoming season.”

Experimentation is always prevalent in the summer and Liberty head coach Chad Landis likes what he sees so far out of his group. The Hurricanes were 5-0 in the Cedar Beach summer league heading into this week and will hope to parlay that into a into Sunday’s action this weekend.

“We have a dedicated core group of guys who have done a great job of showing up, playing hard and trying to get better each night,” said Landis. “That is all you can ask for in the summer. Each night has been a different lineup and different guys have stepped up, which is encouraging for the depth of our program.”

Action starts on Thursday evening and will continue through Sunday night.

Bethlehem Catholic opens the tournament with Reading at 8 p.m. Thursday, while the Hurricanes get the winner of the Wilson West Lawn/Bangor contest. Liberty’s game will be at 7 p.m. on Friday night. Freedom opens with fellow EPC foe Allen at 7 p.m. Thursday night.

Pates head coach Joe Stellato has a history of making deep runs through this annual event and hopes this weekend can be another chance to see his team push into Sunday.

“I’m looking forward to having a full team for the tournament,” Stellato said. “The competition is always great and we can really play our style of pressure defense and fast break offense. It’s a fun weekend for the coaches and players.”