The Northampton boys basketball team returned to EPC play on Tuesday looking to build on their championship run in the Salisbury Township Christmas Tournament and extend their 3-game winning streak.

Bethlehem Catholic came away with a hard-fought 54-52 win to drop the K-Kids to 4-4 on the season.

Both teams were efficient offensively in the first quarter and only a Hawks’ buzzer-beating three separated the teams after 8 minutes, 18-15.

Becahi stayed hot in the second period, but the Kids’ offense slumped resulting 35-25 halftime deficit for the home team.

The Hawks opened the second half with a three and seemed poised to run away with the game. Three-pointers by Caden Reph and Isaac Harris got the lead back to single digits. The Northampton defense got cranked up, forcing 5 turnovers in the third period and held Becahi scoreless for the final 3:42 of the quarter, allowing the Kids to close to 42-40 heading into the final frame.

A pair of Isaac Harris buckets in the first two minutes of the last period gave Northampton its first lead since the opening quarter, 44-42. The K-Kids’ offense went cold over the next 5 minutes as they managed only a single free throw over that interval. The Hawks scored 8 in that time span and led 50-45 with 59 seconds to go in the game.

An Isaiah Harris free throw and a long Isaac Harris three got the Kids back to within one with 27 seconds left. Becahi made a pair of free throws, but Isaiah matched them, making the score 52-51 in favor of the Hawks with 9 seconds to go. Becahi made another set of free throws leaving the Kids down three with 8 seconds left. A desperation three missed the mark, but Lucas Lesko was fouled in the paint with .4 seconds on the clock. He swished the first foul shot, but Northampton was unable to tip in the intentional miss of the second one to send the game to overtime.

Isaac Harris led the Kids with 21 points and swiped three steals. Isaiah Harris scored 15. Lesko had 13 and Reph scored 3.

Head coach Coy Stampone summarized the contest.

“It was a good game,” he said. “Entertaining game. The second quarter hurt us. We can’t be down by 10 against a good team like Beca. We fought our butts off, got back in it, had the lead. We just couldn’t finish it out.”

On Friday, the K-Kids will travel to take on the last undefeated team in District XI above the 1A level, Emmaus. The Hornets are 10-0 on the season and have played a quality schedule. On Tuesday they will head north to take on Stroudsburg. The Mountaineers are 5-5 this year.

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The Northampton girls lost an early lead to Becahi on the road 63-57.

The NHS girls came out hot, especially Grace Lesko who scored nine points in the first quarter alone, finishing with a game-high 25 on the night.

The Kids led the Hawks 16-9 after one quarter. Each team scored 10 points in the second quarter and the NHS girls went into the locker room with a 26-19 halftime lead. Lesko added four points in the second while Kylie Gilliard hit a three pointer and added three foul shots.

But the Hawks came out strong in the third quarter, led by Cydney Stanton and her six points and Cici Hernandez added a three-pointer. It was all part of a 20-point third quarter for Becahi that saw the Hawks cut their deficit all the way down to one point, 40-39. Devyn Demchak scored six in the frame for the Kids.

From there, the Hawks exploded for 24 in the final frame. Hernandez scored 11 in the fourth quarter, including her second three-pointer. Keyara Walters added a three among her seven points in the fourth. Hernandez finished with 17 and Walters ended with 13 while Stanton had 10 to lead the way for the Hawks.

Lesko would help to keep the Kids in it, scoring eight more points in the final frame while Gilliard added six. Gilliard finished with 16 on the night.