A nonleague loss to Northampton (4-2 EPC, 7-2 overall) marred what would have been an impressive stretch of games for Northwestern Lehigh (4-1 Colonial, 6-3 overall). Wrapped around that loss were two wins led by Gavin Nelson, who scored a combined 42 points in victories over Southern Lehigh and Kutztown.

Nelson matched his career high in points with 23 against Southern Lehigh in a 76-45 win over the Spartans (2-3, 2-5). The Tigers had four players in double-digits with Shane Marth chipping in with 17, Mason Bollinger 15, while Ethan Kozlowski finished with 11 points.

Northwestern hit seven three-pointers in the game with Kozlowski leading the way with three while Bollinger, Marth, Nelson and Eli Zimmerman all netted one.

The 76 points scored by Northwestern Lehigh marked the third time this season that the Tigers have broken the 70-point mark in a game. They put up 77 in a season-opening win over Northern Lehigh and 71 to beat Catasauqua before the win over Southern Lehigh.

Coming into the season, the Tigers had not scored 70 or more points since Jan. 25, 2022, when they beat Palisades 75-62 behind 23 points from Nelson in that win. Last season’s scoring high was 60 against Lehighton.

The Tigers built up a 20-4 lead after the first quarter and were up 42-26 at halftime.

Things were not any tougher against Kutztown thanks to a defense that prevented the Cougars from getting their offense going and a Tigers offense that scored at will. The Tigers led 15-10 after the first quarter, but Northwestern’s offense put up 28 points in the second quarter alone to go up 43-14.

In the second half, Northwestern went with younger players and was still able to hold Kutztown (2-8) to just 10 second-half points.

When the two teams met early in 2023, Northwestern downed Kutztown 56-44 with both Nelson and Cayden Fitch, who was playing in his senior season, scoring 23 points in the game.

The Tigers have now made up all five of their games that were postponed from early in the season when many of their players were still competing in the football postseason. That means the schedule will settle into a more routine number of games for the rest of the season.

Northwestern plays at Saucon Valley (3-4, 5-5) before hosting Pen Argyl (0-6, 0-9) Friday. Next week starts with a trip to Bangor (5-1, 5-4) on Tuesday and a home game against Wilson (5-1, 6-2) on Thursday.