Bethlehem area basketball teams are looking to get their footing on the hardwood this season, as it’s been a mixed bag of results for each team through the first two weeks of the season.

Liberty (2-1) suffered their first loss of the season last Friday in a 43-41 defeat to Northampton, while Freedom (2-2) fell to Spring-Ford 55-33 last Friday in a nonconference tilt days after topping Bethlehem Catholic 38-37 thanks to a Jaden Tillett buzzer beating layup.

For head coach Joe Stellato, finding ways to win early in the season are important, especially since star Nick Ellis has been hampered by an ankle injury he sustained in the season opener.

“That was a big win because we did not play really well and that is a sign of a good team,” Stellato said. “Jaden had a great summer and fall and has worked himself into one of the top players in the league. So it is not a surprise. Nick Ellis is hurt and we really needed Tillett to step up in even a bigger role then in the summer and fall league, and he has answered that call.”

Tillett has averaged 12 points a game so far on the season, while Ellis seems to be working his way back into form scoring 10 and 12 points respectively in each of the Pates last two contests.

Freedom has Pleasant Valley and Nazareth on deck this week, as they hope to get some momentum going before the holidays.

Bethlehem Catholic (1-2) gets back into action this week after only having their game with Freedom last week with Pocono Mountain East and Easton on tap this week.

The Hawks have gotten the most out of Alex Cercado, who’s averaged 23.3 points a game so far this season, but head coach Scott McClary hopes they can develop another complimentary scorer to lessen the weight on Cercado’s shoulders.

“We definitely need to find a way to provide more scoring as we are averaging only 53 points per game,” said McClary. “We have really been focused on us for the past week and will continue to do that through the first half of the season because we are so inexperienced. We are learning how to stack good practices together, how to stack good game possessions together. There is a lot placed on the minds of these young guys so we are staying patient and helping them through it. I believe we can really surprise some people by the end of the year if we can stay healthy.”

Liberty looks to bounce back from their loss to Northampton with Stroudsburg and Dieruff this week.