Heading into the locker at halftime, the Salisbury boys basketball team looked distraught. The Falcons scored just six points in the second quarter while shooting 1-for-13 and trailed Allen 37-23.

But then Salisbury followed its game plan set by head coach Jason Weaver, and battled all the way back to tie the game in the fourth quarter.

A missed free-throw with three seconds left ended the comeback hopes and gave the Canaries a 61-57 nonconference win last Monday night at Salisbury High School.

The loss is the first on the season for the Falcons (13-1 overall, 10-0 Colonial League), but it will surely help them prepare for difficult games in February and March.

“Allen is a great team,” Weaver said. “They’re on a winning streak and are playing great basketball right now. But so are we. We wanted a game that was going to challenge us and make us better. That’s why we scheduled Allen, and we have Pottsville at the end of the month.”

The Falcons have handled business in the league thus far, and came out running toe-to-toe with one of the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference’s top teams.

Tied at 17 with a few seconds left, Carlos Gutierrez knocked down a 3-pointer to put Allen in front 20-17 after the first quarter. From there the Canaries went on a 15-0 run to take a 35-17 lead. Salisbury missed its first 12 shots from the floor, and only hit one field goal in the eight-minute frame.

“We had a tough time hitting shots,” said Weaver. “They (Allen) played some good defense and gave us fits. We got away from our game plan, and it hurt us.”

The Falcons, who looked down and out heading into the locker room, but clawed back to within five after the third quarter thanks in large part to Tevon Weber and Blake Jones, who each scored seven points in the third quarter.

Then in the fourth quarter, Jack Reichenbach stepped up and hit a couple of jump shots, including a 3-pointer to tie the game at 53. Weber hit from downtown to tie the score at 57, and then had a chance at the line to tie it again at 59, but missed the front end of a one-and-one.

Josh Wyatt grabbed the rebound and hit a pair of free throws to ice the game.

“It was an entertaining game,” Weaver said. “There was a nice turnout, and the teams didn’t disappoint. Even with the 16-point deficit, we had a chance to win in the end. I’m proud of the way the guys fought back and battled until the very end.”