Collin Breidinger didn't play the last 4:09 of Monday's game against Hamburg as he fouled out.

Despite being ineligible to finish the game, the senior still made his presence felt.

Breidinger scored 11 points and grabbed three rebounds to help Northwestern (1-5, 3-5) defeat Hamburg, 64-47 in a nonleague contest at Northwestern Lehigh High School.

It was rough out of the gate for the Tigers as they were down 12-7 after the first quarter and didn't lead the game until a basket by Parker Jones gave Northwestern a 16-15 lead with 4:28 left in the first half.

"I thought we had some blown assignments defensively," said head coach Dan Eddinger. "We didn't box out very well. We did a better job in the second half of that. Cameron [Richardson's] pressure stepped up and Taylor [Breininger's] play both stepped up and were spark plugs for us."

Four Hamburg turnovers and five points from sophomore Brady Mengel in the second quarter allowed Northwestern to build a 24-19 lead after two quarters of play.

Five straight Hamburg turnovers foreshadowed the demise of the Hawks. The Tigers took advantage of that scoring drought for the last 3:05 as they doubled their lead to 37-27.

The fourth quarter saw Hamburg completely unravel as three technical fouls were called on the Hawks, including two on their head coach that prompted his early departure from the game with 5:06 left on the clock.

In addition, great second-half play by Richardson (18 points, two rebounds) helped the Tiger's to 27 fourth-quarter points and the 17-point victory.

"[This win] was huge for us," said Breidinger. "We have come out with two wins in our last three games. We are just trying to keep our heads straight and keep going."

Junior Josh Williamson did not play on Monday as he is suffering from an ankle injury suffered during a practice. Eddinger said that was more of a precaution after suffering severe swelling last weekend. He believes Williamson will be available Thursday against Pleasant Valley, the Tiger's next game.

As far as what Monday's win does for his team, Eddinger said we will find out soon.

"Thursday will tell us," he said. "We played a decent basketball game against Palmerton. We played two and a half good quarters against Bangor and we played a half today. We didn't play 32 minutes, but I think if we get a win at home on Thursday against Panther Valley it'll do a whole lot for us heading into the new year."