The Salisbury boys basketball team has seen most of its games come down to the wire as of late. Jack Richenbach made sure that didn’t happen again last week.

The junior scored 11 first-quarter points, part of his game-high 21, to help the Falcons cruise to a 70-45 victory against Northwestern in a Colonial League boys basketball game at Northwestern Lehigh High School on Thursday night.

“We have been in a lot of close games lately,” head coach Jason Weaver said. “I thought our defense was better tonight and we got off to a quick start. Jack Reichenbach was hitting shots and we moved the ball.”

Salisbury (16-5 overall, 13-4 Colonial League) jumped out to a 21-8 lead after the first quarter where it forced four Northwestern turnovers as well. After leading 3-0, and allowing the Tigers to tie it at 3, the Falcons reclaimed the lead and never looked back.

“Every game my JV coach [Dave Spadt] and I are taking about how it always comes down to the wire and the emotions are a roller coaster,” Weaver said. “It was a great start and we had a great third quarter. I was happy for the intensity tonight.”

That intensity was present in the second quarter as well, especially on the defensive end, as Salisbury forced four straight Northwestern turnovers. It then finished the half with a 5-0 scoring run to take a commanding 34-18 lead heading into the locker room.

The Falcons scored 22 points in the third quarter alone, which allowed the fourth quarter to be one where the starters could get rest and every player on the team to get playing time.

“It was good to see us play to our potential tonight,” Weaver said. “We have been struggling. We were down eight to start the fourth quarter against Palisades the other night. The grind was getting to us. So it was nice to execute tonight.”

Complementing Reichenbach’s scoring was Ryan Slutsky, who finished with 17 points, and Jaxon Costello, who chipped in 11 points.

Northwestern (7-13, 5-12) sophomore Sam Yadush led the Tigers’ offense with 16 points.

The Falcons have both the Colonial League and the District 11 playoffs on the horizon, however, they still have a few areas to clean up before then, according to Weaver.

“I think we are on our way,” he said. “We have to keep being better on defense. When you get into the playoffs, you have to be able to stop people. Against quicker teams, we have struggled to stop them. That has been my focus all the time. We can score. I’ve got guys that can score, but we have to stop people. I keep drilling defense into them because at some point we are going to need to stop someone.”

The Falcons went on to beat Northern Lehigh on Saturday and were scheduled to finish the season Tuesday against Southern Lehigh. They begin Colonial League playoffs Saturday.