It was just the way that the Northwestern High School boys basketball team had hoped to finish off the summer offseason of competition.

After not competing in the other major summer tournament in June, the Bash at the Beach Tournament, the Tigers joined the other big summer one and found success, winning the small school division title at the Awesome Fest Throwdown, the final major summer tournament, held at Cedar Beach in Allentown during the last weekend in July.

“It’s a testament to the guys and their hard work all summer,” said head coach Patrick Wanamaker. “To come out to this tournament and win our division is great. It gives them a lot of confidence heading into the winter and they should take pride in what they accomplished.”

Northwestern won both of its games in pool play to advance to the tournament playoffs. The Tigers opened up the tournament with a win over Wyomissing Area and then defeated East Stroudsburg North to advance out of the group.

In the quarterfinal round, Northwestern beat Lehighton, followed by a semifinal win over Brandywine before taking down Lincoln Leadership in the final. Winning that game allowed the Tigers to play in the large school division tournament, but they lost in the round of 16 to Reading 51-41, ending their tournament run.

“I’m happy with the weekend overall,” Wanamaker said. “We were able to play a lot of games against a lot of different teams we don’t always get to see during the year. The guys got some valuable experience.”

Parkland got the better of Pocono Mountain West in the tournament final.