Last season, Northampton’s boys’ basketball team caught fire at the right time, and the Konkrete Kids advanced to the District 11 Class 6 A final.

In the process, the Konkrete Kids won 10-straight games, five in the postseason, to capture their first East Penn Conference title since 1973.

From there, the Kids lost to Parkland in the district final, and they were bumped by Hazleton in the opening round of the PIAA state Class 6A playoffs. The Kids finished with an overall 19-10 record.

Fortunately for them, the Kids have the pieces in place to make another deep memorable run this winter. The Kids will bring their top six players back, losing one player from last year’s team.

They began their summer league play with a 77-37 rout of Bangor in the Lehigh Valley Summer Basketball League.

Head coach Matt Scholl, who will begin his fifth season, already has started the process for the 2025-26 season.

“We’ve been back in the gym since mid-March and we are focused in the weight room right now,” stated Scholl. “We are returning all of our key players from last season and expectations are high. The offseason is critical, though, and we need to get stronger and become more fundamentally sound. If we want a chance at playing for another championship next season, we need to box out better and focus on scoring more around the hoop.”

The Kids will return top six players Noah Walakovits, Leo Regec, Korbin Sollars, Brady Simock, Ethan Raphun, Jake Raysely. JV players Jimmy Everett, Logan Walter and Marcus Ramos are currently expected to be part of the regular rotation.

Walakovits, the team’s leading scorer last season averaging 15 points per game, anticipates another long run ahead.

“We looked good in our first game, and it was nice to start back up again,” said Walakovits. “We are all confident in our abilities, we have a lot of chemistry, and we play well together.”

Scholl is aware that his team will be in the bull’s-eye of many teams this winter. He doesn’t want his team to take anything for granted.

“I feel like we ran out of steam at the end,” said Scholl. “We are focused on getting stronger so that doesn’t happen this season. The guys know what we are capable of now. That said, we need to stay grounded because there are a lot of good coaches and teams in the league and nothing is guaranteed.”