It's summertime and basketball is a winter sport. The first practices for high school teams won't be for another four months.

Many coaches say victories in the summer are like flowers in pots on the porch. They're nice, but when the weather turns cold they are soon forgotten.

Well, some flowers are taken inside in the winter and continue to thrive ... and grow.

Beaver Falls won the boys' Class AAAA/AAA division championship last month in the Pittsburgh Basketball Club's Summer League. Beaver Falls defeated Seneca Valley in the championship game.

No, Beaver Falls didn't have to win the summer league to make a name for itself. After going 22-5 and losing to Jeannette in the WPIAL Class AA final and Farrell in the first round of the PIAA tournament with a mostly underclassmen, Beaver Falls would have been favored to win the WPIAL Class AA title this season had it lost every game this spring and summer.

But it didn't. It won every game.

Beaver Falls was 5-0 in the Hopewell undergraduate tournament, 5-0 in the Ambridge undergraduate tournament, 7-0 in the regular season in the summer league and 4-0 in the summer league playoffs.

A confidence booster for a team that doesn't need it? Why not?

"And we won the [summer league] tournament without Brock Van Lier, our point guard," Beaver Falls coach Doug Biega said. "We relied a lot on the younger guys and they came through.

"Guys who are going to be ninth graders played a ton. I knew I liked that group of players when they were in eighth grade, but now I like them even more. That group has a lot of talent."

Beaver Falls also played without Chason Harris, a 6-foot-4 swingman who is no longer with the program. Van Lier, 6-2, who will be a junior in the fall missed the playoffs because of family matters.

Nick Miller, who will be a senior, and Admire Carter, who will be a junior, split time filling in for Van Lier. Dashaun Boyd, a junior-to-be, also saw some time at point guard.

"Nick is a pretty good shooter and Admire Carter drives to the basket well. Neither is the defensive player Brock is, but it worked out. We sort of did it by committee," Biega said.

For most of the summer the starting lineup for Beaver Falls consisted of Van Lier, Kendall Dreher who is 6-2, Todd Thomas who is 6-3 and B.J. McBryde and Kevin Nesmith, both 6-6.

"It's the tallest team we've had since I've been here," Biega said. "B.J. has really come on. When he was a freshman he was 6-3 and 205 [pounds]. As a sophomore last year he was 6-5, 230. And now he's a junior and 6-6, 250."

Another player who performed well this summer was Cody Cook, a 5-10 junior who is better known for his ability to run with the football.

"That's the thing about the summer league," Biega said. "We had guys coming to games from football conditioning. They were tired and had stired legs. We're a small school and we have to share our athletes. So, to do what we did in winning the league against mostly Quad-A schools was rewarding."

Biega said he had 10-11 players for most summer league games. He didn't use many of the intricate in-bound plays and presses he might employ during the high school season because he understands that basketball isn't on the front burner for players right now.

He did, however, rely on his players' competitive nature.

"I'd tell them before games that since they showed up, they might as well try to win," he said with a laugh. "Our guys are pretty competitive. They don't like to lose."

And Biega expects this summer's winning experience will have something of a carryover effect.

"It's a positive for us, no question. The fact we went against Quad-A schools and some good competition certainly can't hurt our confidence."

Biega also was quick to give organizer john Giammarco credit for making in the league a success.

"I graduated from Center in 1989 and up to that point there were two summer leagues, the one that [former Blackhawk coach] John Miller started on the outdoor courts out there and one at Center Municiple Park where all the older guys played.

"We had a team in the one at the park and we'd get pounded by all the older guys. What John has done by setting this all up for the players and then having a championship is great for the caliber of basketball in the area."