In reference to the annual Cedar Beach Basketball Showcase, Northampton head boys basketball coach Coy Stampone always has had one goal in mind.

“Our goal is to play Sunday at any summer tournament at Cedar Beach,” said Stampone. “We always have strived to get to the final day of a tournament.

“If we can get to that point, we know anything can happen.”

For their sake, the Konkrete Kids nearly had a momentous Sunday.

The Kids advanced to the championship game of the tournament and dropped a tight 54-51 decision to Parkland, a team they had beaten two days earlier.

Despite the loss in the final, Stampone was pleased with his team’s performance. Issac Harris and Lucas Lesko were named to the All-Tournament team.

“We played East Stroudsburg North in the morning and played well,” reflected Stampone. “We then played Nazareth, and it was a battle we won in overtime. However, the Kids lost point guard Isaiah Harris to an ankle injury.

Stampone, whose team had its district run ended by Parkland, believed his team had a legitimate shot to capture its first summer tournament crown in the evening.

“We already were shorthanded and we had a nice layoff,” said Stampone. “We thought that was a good thing we would get a tired team in the finals. However, I think the time off took us out of our rhythm, and Parkland came out after playing numerous games and played well.

“On Friday night, the combination of Jackson Fehnel and Tristan Pinnock did a fantastic job in limiting Nick Coval to four points. But in the championship game, we were short handed and Coval and Will Meekerboth played well. We had to play guys in different positions, but our guys stepped up. The game could have gone either way, and it was humid out there.

“Credit goes to Parkland. They had to win seven or eight games after we beat them to reach the championship game.”

Overall, Stampone saw plenty of positives for his team ahead. He credited assistant Matt Scholl, who has coached the team during the summer.

“We went 5-1 in the tournament and learned a lot,” he stressed. “We played a lot of man-to-man defense, and at times, played it very well. It would be nice to mix up our defenses during the season. During the summer, we try to play around with different defenses, offenses, player combinations, and the tournament allowed us to do that against some good competition.

“We saw some things we need to improve on and saw some good things that surprised the coaching staff.