The 2025-26 high school basketball season is just over a month away and a handful of the area’s best players appear ready to go after the Select Competition Basketball League (SCBL) wrapped up on Saturday at Executive Education Academy Charter School.
The SCBL and its founder Ed Jennings celebrated its 15th season of existence with the championships on Saturday rather than Sunday for the first time ever, and the action didn’t disappoint.
After a buzzer-beater in the semifinal sent the Warriors to the championship game, former Liberty standout and current Hun School junior Blake Hargrove delivered a championship performance to lift the Trail Blazers to a title for Hargrove’s third career win in the SCBL.
“The rules are they can’t send help defense, so it’s really just a one-on-one game. So, you can work on whatever you need to work on,” Hargrove said. “But it’s also important to get the win at the end of the day, so I feel like just going out there and trying to get that win, that builds grit and going into the season is going to help you a lot and possibly win a championship.
Hargrove took home the most promising prospect award in the NBA division with Lincoln Leadership senior Robert Baker winning the league’s most outstanding player.
It was a welcome return home for the former Hurricane who scored 728 points in two seasons at Liberty before before transferring and averaging 23.8 points at Hun last season.
“Growing up here … it’s been a blessing,” Hargrove said. “I know a lot of people here. It’s just incredible. Words can’t explain it.”
The rising junior owns Division I offers from LaSalle, Yale, Penn and Princeton and is hoping that another big year could add to that number.
Competition and production like he showed off in a 36-point showing in the championship game will go a long way into making that happen.
“This is an important season. I feel like junior season is the season you really need to get at it, and I feel like I’ve got to go hard no matter what.”
On the girls side, a pair of Allentown seniors showed out for the Aces as Allentown Central Catholic’s Shamiya Roberts and Dieruff’s Jayla Rosario shined in a dominant 63-27 win over the Sky to claim the girls division championship.
“It’s really all about having fun, because in hindsight, it doesn’t really mean anything … but it means everything,” Rosario said. “To come out and play in your hometown in front of everyone and just have fun [means everything].”
“I think it’s a really good league,” Roberts said. “You don’t really get much respect for girls basketball, so here we all show out and have fun.”
Rosario’s 32-point effort backed up her selection as the league’s most outstanding player alongside Liberty’s Ava Kopetskie. Perkiomen School sophomore Palin Coleman, who transferred after playing at Becahi last season, took home most promising prospect honors.
“It feels good because I played in this league for a couple years now,” Rosario said on winning the award. “It was a goal of mine to win the outstanding player, so I just went out and did it.”
Saucon Valley freshman Will Hastie and William Allen freshman Jayden Brown shared the most outstanding player honor in the NCAA Division with Palmerton freshman Tate Buck securing the most promising prospect award for Michigan State who knocked off Duke, 40-38, in Saturday afternoon’s final. Salisbury Middle School eighth grader Ryan Vivona came through with a game-winning layup with under 15 seconds remaining to secure the win for Michigan State.
Despite the loss, Allentown Central Catholic freshman Anthony Diaz looked sharp on both ends of the floor for the Blue Devils.
Still, regardless of the results, Jennings’ vision is clear and hasn’t changed since the beginning decade and a half ago.
“But at the end of the day, the kids get better, and the one comment that I hear a lot: ‘this is the most fun I get to have playing basketball,’” Jennings said. “So, I kind of smile and go, ‘why?’… Because it’s total freedom. It’s not playing a role. You can actually dribble. You can shoot. And that’s rewarding to hear because if you were just a role player in both of those environments [AAU and high school], you never get to try anything else. This allows you to do that and in a competitive environment.”
Derek Bast is a freelance writer who can be found on Twitter/X at @derek_bast or reached by email at derekbast11@gmail.com.
