Ellis staying in the Lehigh Valley to play college ball
As a parent, Scott Coval got to see a lot of local basketball games the past two seasons as his son, Nick, played for Parkland.
As the head coach at DeSales University, Coval also got to check out a lot of talent in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference.
While he may not have necessarily rooted for Allen and Nate Ellis when the Canaries played Parkland and his son, Coval definitely had to notice and admire what he saw from the Allen guard.
Fortunately for Coval, he can not only root for Ellis going forward, but he can also coach him.
Ellis, one of the greatest players in Allentown/Allen High School history, committed to DeSales over the weekend, meaning one of the most dynamic players in local scholastic basketball over the past four years will be staying local.
“I’m very excited and relieved, too, that the recruiting process is over,” said Ellis, who revealed his future school first on social media. “DeSales was the first school that really looked at me and followed me at everything since last summer. It’s a great school, close to home and it’s a place that’s going to make me a better basketball player and a better person.”
DeSales is also the place that current Allen coach Darnell Braswell played and flourished in becoming a two-time, first-team Division III All-American.
Ellis said that Braswell didn’t try to influence his decision, however.
“He left it up to me,” Ellis said of Braswell. “He tried to help me as much as possible and get more schools involved with the process and I asked him a lot of questions. He supported me in any way he could. but he didn’t try to influence me.”
Ellis finished second all-time in scoring for a program that celebrated its 100th anniversary last season. He finished with 1,560 points behind only Ray Barbosa on the Canaries’ all-time list. As a senior, he averaged 20.8 points per game and made 57 3-pointers. He scored 30 points or more three times and netted a careerhigh 42 against District 11 5A runner-up East Stroudsburg South in January.
He made 209 3-pointers in his career and was a first-team all-EPC selection for three years and also was the A-Town Throwdown summer 3-point champion three times. With Ellis on the floor, Allen won two District 11 6A titles and an Eastern Pennsylvania Conference title.
“I feel like I had an amazing career at Allen,” he said. “To rep the blue and gold at Allen was a goal of mine as a kid, long before I ever got to high school. I always wanted ‘Allen’ across my chest and being a Canary and repping the blue and gold was a blessing. I thank God every day for the things I was able to accomplish.”
Lehigh Valley Summer League
For the first time, the area’s major high school summer boys basketball league is going inside.
The league formerly known as the Cedar Beach Summer High School Boys Basketball League is going indoors to the Whitehall-Coplay School District complex.
Starting Tuesday night and continuing through the playoffs in mid-to-late July, the league will feature varsity competition every Tuesday and Thursday, taking a break only for the Cedar Beach Basketball Showcase, the summer’s first major local tournament, which will remain outdoors at Cedar Beach from June 23-26.
League director Glen Klein said the varsity league will feature 32 teams spread into big-school and small-school divisions.
The big-school division will feature many of the top Eastern Pennsylvania Conference teams such as Parkland, Allen, Liberty, Northampton, Emmaus, Freedom, Easton, and Allentown Central Catholic and will also include newcomer Executive Education, which opted to play in the big-school division along with Colonial League members Notre Dame-Green Pond, Southern Lehigh and Palmerton. District 3 powers Muhlenberg Township and Reading are also in the league.
The small-school division will include teams such as Northwestern Lehigh, Lehighton, Catasauqua, Upper Perk, Bethlehem Christian, and Roberto Clemente.
The varsity league will hold games on Whitehall High’s Dick Tracy Court as well as Whitehall’s auxiliary gym, the middle school gym, and Zephyr Elementary School.
The nine-team JV league and a four-team freshman league will remain outside at Cedar Beach and begin on June 7.
For schedules of each league, go to http://www.cedarbeachbasketball.com/.
Moravian’s new hoops coach
In a release, Moravian University announced it has selected Darryl Keckler as its new head men’s basketball coach effective on May 31.
“It is with great pleasure that I welcome Coach Keckler to Moravian University and the athletic department as our new men’s basketball coach,” said director of athletics and recreation and women’s basketball coach Mary Beth Spirk. “He is a proven winner and leader on and off the court. It was clear through the interview process that Darryl was the best person to lead our men’s basketball program to the top of the Landmark Conference and back into the NCAA tournament.”
Keckler has been the head coach at Drew University for the past 14 years where he has posted 167 victories, won the 2021 Landmark Conference title, and was a two-time Landmark Conference coach of the year.
He led the Rangers to the Landmark Conference Tournament seven times and had a dozen student-athletes earn Landmark All-Conference honors including a conference player, rookie, and two-time defensive player of the year.
Lehigh softball heads to Seattle
One day after winning its 15th Patriot League Tournament title Saturday at Boston University, Lehigh learned its NCAA Tournament fate Sunday night. The Mountain Hawks are headed to the Seattle Regional to face No. 13 national seed Washington.
The game will be the second of two games Friday at Husky Softball Stadium with game time set for 8 p.m.
Friday’s opening game in Seattle matches Texas against Weber State and is set for 5:30 p.m. ET. The Lehigh-Washington game will be broadcast on ESPN+.
“I’ve known [Washington coach] Heather [Tarr] for a long time and she’s a great coach and a great friend,” Lehigh coach Fran Troyan said. “We’re just thrilled to be going out to the Seattle area.”
The Mountain Hawks (30-18-1) will be making their 11th NCAA Regional appearance and first since 2017. Lehigh will be facing Washington for the first time. The Mountain Hawks will be looking to defeat a Pac-12 team for the first time in 12 tries. It will be the fourth time in 11 appearances that the Mountain Hawks will open regional play against a team from the Pac-12 (Arizona in 2005, Stanford at Amherst, Mass. in 2008, UCLA in 2017).
Lehigh’s roster features six players from the west coast, four from California, one from Arizona, and junior infielder
Josie Charles from Sammamish, Wash., who will get to enjoy a homecoming.
“We want them to have a great time and to enjoy the experience, but we’re going out there to compete,” Troyan said. “We’re a good team right now and we’re trying to take this program from good to great. We’re going to go out there and try and do the best that we can.”
Eastern League book
The Allentown Jets are sure to get plenty of air time when co-authors Syl Sobel and Jay Rothstein talk about their book “Boxed Out Of The NBA: Remembering the Eastern Professional Basketball League” on Pennsylvania Cable Network at 7 p.m. Sunday.
All cable TV subscribers in Pennsylvania can watch Sobel and Rothstein talk about their book which has rekindled lots of fond memories of local basketball fans. A repeat will be shown at 8 p.m. on May 23.
It will then go into PCN’s repeat rotation and will periodically air again. After it airs the audio will be uploaded as a podcast and will be available on most podcasting services including Apple at this link: https:// podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ pa-books-on-pcn/id618160478.
The book is still available on Amazon.com and where books are sold.