Head coach Jason Weaver understands what his Salisbury boys basketball team is capable of when at full strength.

Because of vacations, other sport obligations and other circumstances, the Falcons have rarely been in the complete form that they'll put on the court on a weekly basis come the winter high school season.

Despite missing Justin Aungst and Brad Vangeli, two key players that have missed a good chunk of summer league basketball games because of high school and legion baseball, the Falcons put together a solid summer outing. Last Thursday's 46-41 defeat to Dieruff dropped the Falcons to 7-5, leaving them just on the outskirts of the eight-team Stellar Summer League playoff tournament.

The Falcons still accomplished much over the summer and had a winning record in the Stellar League for the first time in six years.

"When Justin plays, it's a different team," said Weaver, regarding games against Bangor and Northern Lehigh two weeks ago. "His energy and toughness, everybody just feeds off of it.

"When we're all there and we're playing together, I think this team has a chance to accomplish a lot this upcoming year, as long as we get all our bodies there and we stay healthy and we play as a team. There's a lot of ability and there's a lot of talent there."

Eddie Sanchez and Austin Uhl, two Falcons who saw plenty of varsity experience last year, have had tremendous and consistent summers. Both have been to nearly all of the Falcons' games and have continued to put in the work each game to improve their skills.

"We don't have a lot of the baseball kids," said Sanchez. "But the young kids are getting better so that means when the season starts they'll have some experience under their belts."

Uhl, who had a team-high 16 points, scored 10 in the first half against the Huskies and helped the Falcons to an early 15-8 lead. The Huskies responded with 17 of the next 20 points to lead 25-18 at halftime.

"I think we played pretty well," said Uhl. "Everybody really tries their hardest. With our whole team not being here, it's really hard."

"He [Uhl] had a great summer," said Weaver. "When he goes hard to the basket he's tough to stop. I think his rebounding and his defense have gotten better. He's gotten stronger. He's really in top physical shape, and I know he's got to be that way for soccer."

After the Huskies increased their second half lead to nine on a number of occasions, Eddie Sanchez had a key stretch late to pull the Falcons to within a point. Sanchez had all eight of his points after intermission, but the Falcons were never able to regain the lead.

"I think he's really motivated to have a great season this year," said Weaver of Sanchez. "He's going hard to the basket every time. He's also been our most consistent shooter from the perimeter. He's got a good stroke going. We're going to need a lot of offense from him."

The Falcons will participate in one last tournament at Northampton Community College in the middle of August before open gyms get underway for the winter season.