In their first two games of the season, the Northwestern Lehigh boys basketball team didn’t do a lot to help itself.

The Tigers turned the ball over way too much and were just out of sync, which resulted in losses against Executive Education Charter (3-1 overall) and Pottsville (2-0 Schuylkill League, 3-1 overall). For their first home game of the season, the Tigers found just the right speed limit for their offense and reduced turnovers. The result was a 63-37 win over Pen Argyl, their first victory under new head coach Jerry Lloyd.

“Executive and Pottsville really got up and into us defensively, so it was a little challenging with a new offense,” said Lloyd. “I told them just to be patient with it. As we run stuff more, we’ll become more familiar with it.”

Both teams came out sharp shooting in the first quarter. Midway through the quarter back-to-back three-pointers by Dylan Witkowski brought the Tigers from a one-point deficit to a five-point advantage and they would hold a 20-16 edge at the end of the quarter.

The Northwestern (1-0 Colonial, 1-2 overall) defense stiffened and held the Green Knights scoreless for the first four minutes of the second quarter and stretched its lead to as many as 11 points at 27-16 with 4:21 left in the half.

Pen Argyl (0-1, 0-1) mounted a comeback and used a three-pointer from Jillian Pysher and a three-point play from Collin McKeague when he was fouled on the way to the basket. At halftime, the Tigers’ lead had been cut to 29-25.

Cayden Fitch led all scorers through the first half with 11 points, but it was Justin Holmes who took over when the teams exited the locker rooms. Holmes scored seven of his 14 points in the first two minutes of the half, but McKeague would score eight of his 19 points by midway through the third quarter.

With McKeague getting very little offensive help and the Knight defense struggling to stop Northwestern, the Tigers outscored Pen Argyl 21-10 in the quarter to take control of the game. Pen Argyl got a lone basket from McKeague in the final quarter as Northwestern continued to roll.

“It was a home game, and we need to defend our home court, plus they had a long ride, which we had in the first two games and it’s never easy going on the road,” said Lloyd. “We were happy to finally get home.”

While Fitch was hot early and Holmes took over early in the second half, Witkowski was a steady scorer throughout the game for Northwestern. Witkowski’s family recently moved into the school district from Emmaus and he used the occasion of playing at home for the first time to lead all scorers with 21 points, splitting them up with 10 in the first half and 11 over the final two quarters.

“I haven’t played with these guys a lot because we just moved into the school district, so I think that the chemistry wasn’t quite there for me in the first two games,” said Witkowski. “I think our chemistry was really good tonight and our communication was much better than in the first two games and we were able to really cut down on the turnovers and that showed on the scoreboard.”

After scoring a total of 64 points through its first two games, Northwestern nearly doubled its season point total with the win over Pen Argyl. The Northwestern defense played better than in their first two outings as well. Cade Christopher showed himself to be a key part of the Tigers defensive play and was lauded by Lloyd for his performance.

“We only had for practices and it’s tough to be in basketball shape to shoot the ball with only four practices,” said Lloyd. “With having those games behind us, you’re starting to see some of these guys get their legs and getting into basketball shape. Defensively, Cade obviously was very good and the more we play, the better all of these guys are going to be.”

Northwestern goes right back on the road for a game at Palmerton (1-0, 1-1) tonight before coming home for two straight games against Wilson on Saturday and Southern Lehigh next Tuesday night.

Wilson and Southern Lehigh will play their season openers tomorrow night before taking on the Tigers.