Salisbury put together a big third quarter against Northwestern Lehigh last Thursday. The Falcons had an eight-point lead to open the final period. From there though, things fell apart and the Tigers responded with seven unanswered points and a final bit of heroics at the buzzer to pull out a 41-39 win over the Falcons.

The two teams battled through the first quarter with neither team having a distinct advantage. The second quarter was much the same but two late baskets put Northwestern up 17-13 at halftime.

In the third, Hunter Bleam and Tyson Utesch both scored six points to lead the Falcons to an 18-point quarter that gave them a 31-23 advantage. Both players had been shutout through the first half and would combine for only one more point in the fourth quarter, but their surge gave their team a lead that Falcon head coach Jason Weaver believed they would be able to hang onto.

“We ran our offense really well in the third quarter and we scored 18 points,” said Weaver. “We moved the ball, got layups and then for some reason just went away from it. We stopped running our offense and became a little one-dimensional and the guys didn’t believe in running the offense through and getting good shots. It was just undisciplined.”

The Tigers cut the lead to three and then continued to chip away until a drive by Ethan Lazarus finally edged Northwestern Lehigh ahead at 37-36 with 1:11 left in regulation. On their next possession, Lazarus was fouled and hit two free throws to make it 39-36, but Salisbury refused to go quietly as Kyle Artis made a three-pointer look easy, draining it through the hoop with just :17 left to play.

Northwestern called a timeout to set up for a final shot, but the shot bounded off the rim and went to Cade Christopher, who had to turn to protect the ball. With time running out, Christopher put up a desperate shot over his shoulder while he was falling away from the basket. The ball hit nothing but nylon as the final buzzer sounded, and Northwestern had claimed their win.

“This was a tough one tonight because we played well in the first half and then played extremely well in that third quarter,” said Weaver. “We quickly lost control of what we were doing that was successful. Northwestern is a good team and we gave them an opening to come back, and they took full advantage of it.”

The win allowed Northwestern Lehigh (8-8 overall, 8-6 Colonial League) to catch Salisbury (8-7, 7-5) in the league standings. The Tigers beat Southern Lehigh in a subsequent game while the Falcons fell to Palmerton, dropping Salisbury into a tie with Bangor (7-8, 7-5) for the final league playoff spot. By virtue of a win over the Slaters earlier in the season, Salisbury holds the tiebreaker between the two teams.

“We’re in the mix,” said Weaver of a spot in the playoffs. “But it’s all about our focus. It’s the mental approach because physically, we are athletic, and I have some size and guys that play hard. The mental approach to the game is sometimes lacking for us.”

Injuries affected the team earlier in the season, but with the return of Artis, the team is now healthy for the stretch. One concern that Weaver has is the team’s ability to win close games.

“We haven’t had a lot of close games,” Weaver said. “We are either winning or losing by 10 or 12 points and it’s a little different when it’s a six or even four-point game and we have to learn how to handle those situations.”

Salisbury has home games against Northern Lehigh (2-13, 1-10) and Wilson (10-4, 9-2) and a road game at Catasauqua (0-13, 0-12) during the next week. The regular season ends February 7 for the Falcons.