The Salisbury boys basketball team fell behind early and couldn’t overcome a large first-half deficit in Saturday’s playoff loss to Saucon Valley.

The Panthers led by 16 points at halftime before holding off Salisbury late in the game for a 55-47 win in the quarterfinal round of the Colonial League playoffs.

“What I’m proud of walking away is we showed fight in the second half,” said Salisbury head coach Jason Weaver. “We got it down to five at one point. We played hard. We talk about playing with passion. We played with passion in the second half. We could have hung our heads and lost by 30 tonight.”

The Panthers used their size advantage to control the glass in the first half, especially on offense. They pulled down 25 rebounds to Salisbury’s 10 over the first 16 minutes of the game, many of them on offense as Salisbury got off just 15 shots in the first half, while Saucon Valley took more than 30 shots in the first 16 minutes.

“It seemed like every possession in the first half was an offensive rebound if they missed a shot,” said Weaver. “Their big guys are hard to handle. I think we came out a little tentative. It’s the first playoff game for a lot of [Salisbury’s players]. Saucon is experienced. Those guys were in the league final last year and the district final. It’s the first game we couldn’t hear on the sideline.”

Adam Clark (6-foot-5) had 10 first-half rebounds and a team-high 10 points at intermission, while teammate Caleb Grim pulled down five rebounds in the first half.

Salisbury scored just one first-quarter basket, when Bryan Gonzalez made it 2-2 just a minute and 49 seconds into the game. The Panthers (16-7) went on a 13-0 before Salisbury’s Tommy Lovelidge made a three-pointer 18 seconds into the second quarter.

Jake Roberston got hot in the second period, scoring six points in the second quarter to help his team stretch its lead to 25-7 with 1:29 left in the half before a Lovelidge basket cut into the lead.

Saucon Valley was ahead 27-11 at halftime before the Falcons made a second-half run.

Lovelidge, who ha a team-high 15 points in the game, made a pair of three-pointers in the first two minutes of the third quarter to cut into the lead. A three-pointer from Bryan Gonzalez later in the quarter and a pair of Brady Leiner free throws made it 34-22 after three quarters.

Leiner made another basket and a couple more foul shots to start the fourth quarter and get the lead to single digits at 34-26.

A pair of Gonzalez baskets sandwiched around a Jack Foley three-pointer and a basket by Leiner trimmed the Saucon Valley lead to 40-35 with 2:42 left in the game, but that’s as close as Salisbury was able to come.

The Panthers’ Peter Albono scored his team’s next seven points as part of a 7-3 run that got the lead back to 47-38 with 1:20 left, all but sealing the win.

“We fought,” said Weaver. “We battled and I’m proud of the effort. We just have to get it from the start. We played about 16 minute of basketball tonight.

“They’re a tough matchup for us. Their size really bothers us.”

Salisbury (14-9) secured it’s playoff spot by winning six of it’s last seven games in the regular season to finish 11-6 in league play and earn the No. 6 seed. Saucon Valley, despite losing to Salisbury twice, once in league play and once in a nonleague game, earned the No. 3 seed with a 13-5 league record.

The playoff environment was a first for many of Salisbury’s players who were not on the floor for their last playoff appearance in 2022.

Salisbury will move on to the District 11 Class 3A playoffs where the Falcons will be the No. 5 seed with a likely first-round matchup against Saucon Valley in the quarterfinals, slated for Feb. 24.

The Panthers move on to face No. 2 seed Palmerton in Wednesday’s semifinals, while No. 4 Northwestern Lehigh and No. 1 Notre Dame (Green Pond) will compete in the other semifinal. If Saucon Valley pulls off upsets in its next two games and win the league title, the Panthers would get preferential seeding in districts, pushing Palmerton down to the No. 4 seed as Salisbury’s district quarterfinal opponent.

The Colonial League finals are scheduled for Friday night at Freedom High School.