Camden’s Sitafa Hall has water poured on him while he attempts to stay cool during the third day of the A-Town Throwdown boys basketball tournament Saturday, July 30, 2022, at Cedar Beach Park in Allentown. (Joseph Scheller/The Morning Call)

Tyrese Martin and Jalen Cannon are a testament to what hard work can do. Both are Allen HIgh products and both are professional basketball players.

Martin has just signed his first contract with the Atlanta Hawks in the NBA. Cannon has played seven seasons in the Italian Professional League.

But both have never forgotten where they came from and that’s why both watched games and talked to former teammates, coaches, and friends Saturday at the A-Town Throwdown at Cedar Beach.

For the first time all week, the Throwdown was back in its natural setting outside on seven different courts. Over 13 hours starting at 8:30 a.m., 80 games were played to set the scene for Sunday’s final rounds.

The crowds were back in large numbers and even City of Allentown Mayor Matt Tuerk and Bethlehem Mayor Willie Reynolds stopped by to check out the action.

For the basketball world, the biggest celebs were the former Canaries who spent time in the media tent. Probably every player involved in the games would love to follow in the footsteps of Martin and Cannon and eventually get paid to play the game they have always loved to play.

“My whole life has changed since I played in this tournament and played high school basketball,” Martin said. “But you never forget where you came from. The people here have shown me their support and love for years and that means a lot to me.”

Martin said he had a good time with his first taste of the NBA in the Summer League in Las Vegas.

“It was a good experience and helped get me adjusted to the pace of play and the speed of the game, things like that,” Martin said. “Because everybody wasn’t there, it’s hard to see where you fit in, but I feel more confident that I can play at that level. I always have confidence in my ability.”

Martin has gotten to know Hawks coach and longtime NBA player Nate McMillan and impressed him by averaging 12 points in his first four summer league games, including a 21-point effort.

“He tells me to play with confidence, be aggressive, just let it fly,” Martin said. “Getting the contract signed was a big relief and now it’s time to get to work. Training camp doesn’t begin until September, but I am going back to Atlanta [Sunday] and will be around there and get acclimated. My living accommodations have been taken care of and I just want to get settled in.”

Martin said all of the attention that has he received in the last six weeks hasn’t affected him.

“I’m getting a lot of love and so is my mother,” he said. “But I am not letting it go to my head. It’s been an exciting time, but you have to learn how to handle it.”

Cannon, who is returning to Italy in a few weeks, said he was honored to be inducted into the Lehigh Valley Basketball Hall of Fame in March along with his friend and former high school rival, Liberty graduate Darrun Hillard.

“I wish I could have been there,” he said. “I would have loved to accept it in person and see the high school kids play, but I had to be in Italy for my team.”

He said he’s also proud of Martin and happy to see more and more basketball success stories emanate from the Lehigh Valley in general, and Allentown in particular.

“It’s a blessing to know that at such a young age we had such great guidance and people like Doug Snyder, Toomey Anderson, and Randy Atiyeh to help us, encourage us and believe in us as we were growing up,” Cannon said. “We’ve all grown into great young men because of it and it’s great to see so many kids from this city make it in the basketball world. I believe we’ve helped to open up a big door from the Lehigh Valley to some great things.”

Cannon said it’s all about the hard work.

“Nothing is given, you have to work for it,” he said. “I feel very blessed to play in a beautiful country with some great wine and great people and still be playing the game I love to play and get paid for it. If you told me in sixth grade I’d be doing what I am doing, I wouldn’t have believed it.”

Dunmore has established itself as one of the premier girls programs in Pennsylvania basketball.

The Lady Bucks won the District 2 title and went 25-2 last year before losing to Jim Thorpe 40-39 in the Class 4A quarterfinals. They are also the defending A-Town Throwdown champs and look like they could repeat after a convincing 46-21 win over Freedom Saturday afternoon.

Ben O’Brien, who had been the head coach, recently was announced as the new women’s coach at the University of Scranton. O’Brien went 347-43 in 14 seasons, 13 league championships, 10 district championships, and 13 PIAA tournament appearances.

A new coach has yet to be named, so Carrie Toomey, who has been an assistant for three seasons and is the mother of star player Ciera Toomey, who has committed to the University of North Carolina, is running the team in Allentown this weekend.

“We lost Ciera in the District 2 championship game last year and that was tough but we’re hoping to get here back at some point this season,” Toomey said. “We have a lot of girls who are stepping up and playing well.”

Sophia Talutto, Cadie Lewis, Ana Pacewicz, Lucy Monahan and Jackie Brown are among the players filling the void left by Toomey’s absence.

Why is Dunmore, which is located right next to Scranton in Lackawanna County, so strong in girls basketball?

“We just have a great tradition in girls basketball,” Toomey said. “It starts at the biddy level. We have a great biddy program and a lot of girls play AAU. We tell them if you love basketball, that’s something you should try. The girls are dedicated. Coach O’Brien did a great job of establishing the program and getting it to where it is today.”

Dunmore has been in the finals of the A-Town Throwdown, which was originally part of Lehigh Valley SportsFest, four times. The Lady Bucks won the championship in 2003 and last year.

“We like coming here because it’s one of those places where you really have to dig deep and see what you have when it’s hot and the other teams are really coming at you,” Toomey said. “No one is asking to come out and that’s always a good sign.”

Toomey said there’s no tournament like this in the Scranton area.

“We like coming down here because it’s a great bonding experience,” Toomey said. “We’re looking for a good Sunday.”

As the games in pool play began to dwindle Saturday night ahead of the slam-dunk contest and 3-point shooting competition, Sunday’s Sweet 16 spots were beginning to fill up. With about three hours of games left, Central Dauphin East, Lower Merion, Reading, Timber Creek, N.J., Malvern Prep, coached by Allentown Central Catholic grad Neale Boyle, and Camden were among the non-area teams to secure spots.

The local teams who got to Sunday in the boys include Freedom, Phillipsburg, and Parkland with Allentown Central Catholic, Allen, and either Pocono Mountain West or Executive likely to gain spots. The Panthers and Raptors met in one of the final games of the day.

Liberty 50, Red Lion 49 ... Dwayne Chess 16.

Camden 47, Bishop McDevitt 37 ... Ikenna Alozic 24.

Cedar Crest 49, North Hunterdon NJ 42 ... Chernick 19.

St. John Vianney 80, Cedar Cliff 42.

Small Pool Final: Phillipsburg 51, Morris Hills 37.

Timber Creek NJ 42, Red Lion 32

Boys Varsity Round-of-16 (10:30 a.m.) Parkland vs. Phillipsburg; Notre Dame-GP vs. St. John Vianney, Nj; Timber Creek, NJ vs. Reading; Freedom vs. Executive; (11:30 a.m.) Allen vs. Bethlehem Catholic; Camden vs. CD East; Emmaus vs. Malvern Prep; Lower Merion vs. Newark Arts.

Boys JV quarterfinals (12:30) Muhlenberg Twp vs. Team BLM; Boyertown vs. Whitehall; (1:30) Reading vs. Hatboro-Horsham; Malvern Prep vs. Emmaus.

Boys Varsity Quarterfinals, 1:30 p.m.

Girls Varsity Semis, 2:30 p.m.’

Boys JV Semis, 2:30 p.m.

Boys Varsity Semis, 3:30 p.m.

JV Boys and Girls Championships, 4:30 p.m.

Girls Varsity Championship, 5:30 p.m.

Boys Varsity Championship, 6:30 p.m.