Double digits are usually good to see in basketball.

Except for when one is talking about fouls and turnovers.

The Northwestern Tigers committed 23 fouls and 13 turnovers in last Friday's home contest against rival Northern Lehigh. Those numbers proved costly as the Tigers (1-3 overall, 0-2 Colonial League) fell to the Bulldogs 63-51.

The foul trouble began early for Northwestern as senior Kevin Markovtich (four points, two rebounds.) picked up two quick fouls, but the Tigers were still leading 8-7 after the first quarter.

It was back and forth for most of the second until a Bulldog free throw made it 19-19 with 2:03 left in the half. That started an 11-0 run for Northern Lehigh that ended the half at 29-19. The scoreless drought for the Tigers didn't end until a trey by Northwestern's leading scorer Josh Williamson (16 pounts, three rebounds) with 6:05 left in the third made it 33-22.

"Could have been the people I had out on the court," head coach Dan Eddinger theorized about the constant scoring droughts. "It could have been that some guys were out of position. I've got to do a better job myself and I told the boys that. It is not all them. It is part me, too. I'm still trying to find a rotation."

Three straight Northwestern turnovers allowed the Bulldogs to extend their lead to 37-22 with 4:41 left in the third.

The Tigers battled back to within striking distance with Collin Breidinger (nine points, six rebounds) gathering an offensive rebound and converting the put-back before the end of the third.

A Williamson basket off a Northern Lehigh miss with 4:50 left in the game brought Northwestern to within six, but Northern Lehigh countered with a three from Tyler Dibilio and a lay up from Matt Egan, who combined for 38 points, to extend the lead to 55-46 with 3:27 left.

"We had some opportunities," said Williamson. "We just didn't make the stops that we needed and that hurt."

A Logan Schwartz three-pointer with 1:56 remaining kept the crowd into it, but the Bulldogs held on for their first victory of the year.

Williamson was glad to see the support for the team in the stands.

"It is really exciting and fun," he said. "It is disappointing that we couldn't have done more for them. I hope that they still come out and support us. We really have to get better for them."

The Tigers lost to Pen Argyl 49-44 earlier last week. Losing two early league games is not what coach Eddinger had in mind.

"We are behind the eight ball right now," he said. "If we want to truly have any chance at districts these were two games that we couldn't afford to lose, but we did. That means we have to find games to win and that won't be easy."

The Tigers are home their next two games, Thursday against Bangor and Monday versus Hamburg.