Whitehall’s Luke Keppel is enjoying the moment.

Keppel and his Zephyr basketball teammates are enjoying the fruits of a 5-2 start this season, as they knocked off perennial power Allentown Central Catholic in the process. The Zephyrs recently lost a slugfest against Parkland, but they bounced back with a win over Stroudsburg.

Through it all, Keppel sees a strong bond that has been formed.

“Our team gets along really well, and enjoys playing together,” said Keppel. “We’ve all been playing together since grade school, so we have a very experienced, competitive, and hungry team. Our goal is to keep winning games, and hopefully put us in a position to play more meaningful games down the road.”

Keppel, who averages more than 13 points a game, saw a rewarding effort in the Stroudsburg victory.

“Stroudsburg was a tough team,” he added. “They are big and play really hard. It was a big win for us to beat them and get a league win. We will look to build on that momentum this week with two more important league games.”

This week, the Zephyrs hosted Bethlehem Catholic Tuesday and then Allen Friday. Head coach Jeff Jones isn’t taking any team lightly even if it appears that his team has an advantage.

“We keep telling our guys to be hungry and humble,” said Jones. “Parkland is a very good team, and Nick Coval was just unbelievable against us. You can see why he is probably the premier player in the Lehigh Valley and a Division I athlete.

“We outscored them 20-11 in the third quarter, but then Coval has a great fourth quarter. After Parkland, we then came out with a 15-4 run against Stroudsburg.”

Always known for their zone defense, Jones had decided to shift gears.

“We want to be aggressive on offense and defense,” stated Jones. “We have played more man lately, and it has helped us be more aggressive. We feel pretty confident with our man defense.”

Jones also noted that the Zephyrs have steady contributions outside of Keppel and junior center A.J. Hines, who also averages 13 points a game. Senior Ethan Ringenberger and sophomore Talon Dogmanits have been consistent contributors.

“We seem to have a different guy stepping up every night,” said Jones. “Ethan Ringenberg had 13 points against Stroudsburg, and he has done a nice job all year. It’s great to see a guy like Talon Dogmanits putting it all together. He got some minutes at the end of last year.

“He’s a guy that does a lot of good things out there. He doesn’t get rattled, and he usually guards the other team’s best offensive player. He does a great job defensively.”

The Zephyrs were looking to gain some momentum before their own tournament that will have them hosting Boyertown De. 28.

“We don’t want to have any clunkers like we did last year,” said Jones. “We know what we have too, and we have to do it.”

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The Whitehall girls dropped a 61-30 game to Bethlehem Catholic on Tuesday.

The Hawks got off to a strong start, leading 22-8 after the first quarter and then 40-12 heading into halftime.

The Hawks were led by Ella Bincarosky who scored 23 points, including 11 in the second quarter. She finished with six three-pointers on the night.

Aliyah Brahne added 14 points for the Hawks.

For the Zephs, they stayed with the Hawks in the second half, getting outscored just 19-18.

Whitehall was led by freshman Makaela Bordner who finished with 11 points. Nya Brown added eight in the loss. Bordner had two three pointers.