All season long, the Northwestern Lehigh boys basketball team flirted with the .500 mark as the young team battled through the schedule.

The Tigers lost their first three games before winning their next three. From there they struggled to find consistency and a three-game skid late last month appeared to have put a wrinkle in their plans for a spot in districts.

Needing two wins over their final three games, the Tigers downed Northern Lehigh before a nonleague loss to Brandywine Heights on Saturday moved them into a win-or-go-home situation in the season finale. It all came down to Tuesday’s senior night game against Catasauqua.

Fittingly, it was Northwestern Lehigh’s lone senior, Cayden Fitch, that led the way scoring a game-high 16 points in a 48-34 playoff clinching win.

Perhaps because of the gravity of the game, Northwestern (11-11 overall, 9-8)) came out looking tight and fell behind 6-0 before coach Cory Cesare used an early timeout to get his team on track. By the time, the first eight minutes of the game were over, the two teams were tied at 10.

It took the Tigers until the 6:21 mark of the second quarter to take their first lead of the game, which came on a three-pointer from sophomore Eli Zimmerman that put Northwestern up 13-12. From there, the Rough Riders were never able to regain the lead and trailed 20-17 by halftime.

While Zimmerman lacks height, nobody on the court outplays him. In the win over Catasauqua, the sophomore scored 10 points and pulled down five rebounds, including three offensive rebounds.

“We came into the game knowing that they are a pretty good team,” said Zimmerman. “They took us to the wire in the last game and we really had to take care of the ball tonight and limit turnovers. I think we did that today and Cayden helped us a lot on offense.”

Northwestern took control of the game with a 12-3 run in the third quarter and worked their lead to 12 points. There was no letup in the final quarter. Northwestern upped their lead to as many as 19 points with 3:05 left to play.

While the Tigers were hurt by turnovers in the first meeting of the two teams, it was Catty (4-18, 4-13) that had trouble controlling the ball and turned the ball over 21 times in the game, many of which were forced by a tough Northwestern defense.

“It’s been a roller-coaster ride. I have definitely lost some hair over the course of the season, but it’s been fun,” said Cesare with a laugh. “We have gotten better, especially on defense and rebounding.”

As the team’s lone senior, Fitch has been a team leader throughout the season. Heading into the playoffs, Fitch is waiting to see how far the team can go in the postseason.

“Anytime you get to the postseason, it’s a great building block for the future,” said Fitch. “We have so many young guys and a lot of talent. We just have to keep progressing and I am going to do my best to help lead them through the postseason.”

With just over 2:00 left to play in the game, Cesare called timeout to make a special substitution. Cayden Fitch came out of the game, exiting to a big hug from his brother, freshman Cannon, who came in to finish the game.

Northwestern Lehigh did not qualify for the Colonial League playoffs and will be off until district playoffs begin on February 21.