Northwestern Lehigh opened the new year with two wins and one loss, leaving the Tigers with a 5-2 mark in the Colonial League and a 7-4 overall record.

After beating Kutztown 48-24 in a nonleague game, the Tigers fell to Saucon Valley 54-48 before bouncing back to beat Pen Argyl 45-24 recently.

Gavin Nelson scored eight of his game-high 15 points in the first quarter to get Northwestern Lehigh out to a 16-14 lead after the first quarter.

The Tigers defense kicked in for the second quarter and by halftime, Northwestern had opened an eight-point lead at 29-21. The Panthers (4-4, 6-5) cut the lead to six in the third quarter and then ambushed the Tigers in the final quarter, outscoring them 19-7 for a come-from-behind win.

While Nelson led all scorers, Ethan Kozlowski also hit double digits in scoring with 10 points in the game for Northwestern Lehigh.

Nelson and Mason Bollinger were the high scorers against Pen Argyl (1-7, 1-11). Nelson finished with another game-high performance, dropping in 17 points and Bollinger had 11 for the Tigers.

Neither team was able to get its offenses into high gear early in the game as the Tigers led just 13-8 at halftime. During the intermission, Northwestern came up with ways of working its way through the Green Knights defense to slowly pull away to a 17-point edge after three quarters before stretching their lead even more over the final eight minutes of the game.

The upcoming schedule has Northwestern Lehigh hosting Wilson (5-3, 6-4) Thursday with games at Palisades (0-7, 1-9) Saturday and a road trip to Bangor (7-1, 7-4) on Monday.