The Northwestern boys basketball team opened its season in a solid way at the end of last week.

Competing in the annual Wilson Tipoff Tournament last Friday and Saturday at Wilson High School, the Tigers came up short in the opener against the host Warriors in overtime, 70-67. The next day, the Tigers got 18 points from Parker Jones in a 44-33 victory over Moravian Academy.

Those contests, although against Colonial League foes, counted as nonleague contests for Northwestern.

"The guys came out Friday night [against Wilson] and played real hard," head coach Billy Hallman said. "They got up and down the court and played the style of basketball that we wanted to play.

"Against Moravian, the game was a lot slower. They slowed it down on us. We had to execute in the half court, and we fought through it. It was a good start to the season."

Three days after that tournament, the Tigers opened their Colonial League schedule against one of the conference's top teams.

The results weren't as pretty this time out, however.

After sticking with Saucon Valley early into the second quarter, senior forward Matt Smith led the Panthers on a 24-10 advantage in that second frame to ultimately down the Tigers. Smith scored 10 of his game-high 22 points in the second to put the Panthers' stamp on their 73-40 victory on Tuesday night at Northwestern High School.

The Tigers hit their first field goals of the second quarter, including a 3-pointer from Taylor Breininger that tied the game at 15. But that's when Smith and the Panthers took over, finishing the period on a 22-5 run.

"We got a little complacent in the second quarter," Hallman said. "We didn't run our stuff. We didn't push the basketball and run our lanes. We challenged them at halftime, and they came out and accepted it and played hard."

Smith also grabbed seven boards, but he wasn't the only Panther leading the charge over the course of the 32 minutes. Alongside him in the frontcourt was junior forward Mike Kane, who finished with 12 points. On the outside, senior guard Connor Simpson scored nine points and provided a tough mix for the Tigers' defense to focus on.

"Kane is tough inside," Hallman said. "He is real strong and finishes well. They can spread the floor with their shooters. They are a tough team to guard."

After getting outscored by 14 points in the second, the Tigers remained competitive coming out of halftime. Breininger scored five of his team-high 12 in the third.

But once the fourth quarter rolled around, the Panthers continued to step on the gas pedal with a 20-7 advantage over the final eight minutes. Hallman admits that communication remains an issue on both ends of the floor.

"Defensively we try to do certain things, and if our guys aren't communicating, we're just completely out of position," Hallman said. "It's even the same thing on offense. We're not communicating or know what we're running.

"Having a new system, it's taking them a little longer to get used to the system. As they get comfortable, hopefully it will kick in."

The Tigers committed 19 turnovers, a number of which came in the transition game looking to generate easy baskets in the open court.

"There are times where we need to realize to settle it down and move the basketball," Hallman said. "There were too many times tonight where we had one pass, the shot went up, and we didn't have anybody in there to rebound. We need to have transition, but we have to be smart about it."

Northwestern hosts Palmerton on Friday night at 7 p.m.