It was quite possibly the worst week of the season for all three Bethlehem teams on the hardwood this season, Freedom, Liberty and Bethlehem Catholic struggled in last week’s competitions.

With the postseason just around the corner, it’s crunchtime for teams to get themselves for the league and district tournament.

Freedom (13-6) went 2-1 last week, but dropped a 58-52 contest to Nazareth (8-10).

The Blue Eagles have won three out of their last four, including a 58-48 win over Liberty last week.

Head coach Joe Stellato just hopes that loss was a one-off in the effort department his team can avoid the rest of the year.

“The effort,” Stellato said of the reason for concern against Nazareth. “We just didn’t play as hard as they did. We did not get back on defense and gave up a lot of transition points. That was hard to swallow.”

With Easton (2-16) and Liberty (12-7) on deck this week, the Pates were holding onto the sixth seed in the EPC tournament race and will need to finish strong in order to secure a berth in next week’s league tournament.

“We have been playing good basketball up until the Nazareth game,” Stellato said. “We need to get back on track this week. The Nazareth game will not sting as much if we take care of business this week.”

Qualifying for the league tournament would mark the fourth straight year Freedom would join the eight-team EPC dance and it’s something they are looking to capitalize on with a trophy rather than just an appearance.

“Great for the program and these players who, for the last three years, have worked so hard to get into this position,” he said, “but we are not just happy getting in. The goal is to be the first league championship in school history.”

Liberty went 1-2 last week with losses to Nazareth and Muhlenberg and saw themselves drop to eighth in the league race, with a two game lead over Allen, East Stroudsburg North and Whitehall for the final spot in the league tournament.

The Hurricanes will need at least another win out of their last three for a chance to clinch an EPC spot, but with Bethlehem Catholic (12-6) and Freedom this week, it’s a challenging task in two rivalry games.

The Hawks are in the same boat as Liberty, as they were seeded seventh in the league race this week with a two game lead over the aforementioned three programs Liberty is trying to hold off.

Becahi lost to Freedom last week and then suffered a shocking 39-37 defeat to Easton last Friday night.

They need to right the ship this week with games against Liberty and Dieruff (5-14) to preserve their hopes of making the league tournament.