The Northampton boys basketball team has shrugged off their season-opening loss to Emmaus to go on a 5-game winning streak to put themselves firmly in the mix of teams that will be competing for postseason bids.

Their most recent triumph was Tuesday night when Freedom invaded Bob Nemeth Court and was sent home on the short end of a 47-35 score.

Head coach Matt Scholl described the key to the winning streak, “We settled down. We have seniors and I don’t think anybody panicked after that first game. We learned from it and luckily, we’ve been on the other side of it here.”

As the game unfolded, each quarter had its own distinctive feel.

The first period had a nice offensive flow as both teams shot around 50% and took good care of the basketball as the Kids eked out a 12-11 lead by the time the horn sounded.

The second quarter was all about the Northampton defense. They forced 5 turnovers and held the Patriots scoreless until there was 2:36 before the intermission. Freedom scored their only field goal with 23 seconds left in the period. The Kids only managed 7 points themselves over the 8 minutes, so the halftime score was still a competitive 19-16.

Northampton broke the game open early in the third period. The Kids forced 5 turnovers with their press leading to an 11-2 run over the first 4 minutes of the quarter. The surge helped to stake the team to a 33-23 advantage going into the final period.

Senior captain Brody Graff spoke about the pressure defense, “We’ve been wanting to press after every basket. Get up even if it’s just to slow them down a bit. It’s not necessarily to trap them, just to slow them down.”

Scholl reinforced the emphasis on defense, “You always have to play the best you can on the defensive end because that’s heart, that’s effort. That will get you through lulls offensively like we had in the first half today.”

Northampton scored the first 4 points of the fourth quarter and from there it was just a matter of making free throws as the game wound down. Freedom never managed to get the game below single digits.

J.J. Kolumber led a balanced scoring attack with 11 points. Tristen Pinnock scored 10 and pulled down 6 rebounds. Noah Walakovits had 9. Graff chipped in 7. Brady Simock scored 4 and grabbed 5 boards. Trent Moyer and Shakim Dunbar each scored 3.

On Friday night, the K-Kids will host defending district champion Parkland, who features reigning EPC MVP Nick Coval. The Trojans are 6-1 this year, with their only loss occurring in OT to Malvern Prep.