The delayed opening game of the Northwestern boys basketball season rolled around recently, and the Tigers’ offense appears to already be in midseason form. In their two games, Northwestern put up a total of 128 points to defeat both Catasauqua (0-4 overall, 0-4 Colonial) and Southern Lehigh (4-2, 3-2).

Senior Gavin Nelson scored 55 points in the first two games. In the opener against Catasauqua, Nelson scored a career-high 33 points to lead the Tigers to a 67-54 win over the Rough Riders.

Eli Zimmerman, who was on the football field for the state championship team, put up 10 points in the win over Catty and added another 14 in the win over Southern Lehigh.

The 61-40 pounding of Southern Lehigh came one night after the opener, but the Tigers showed no signs of fatigue.

The two teams went on a three-point shooting spree as the Tigers (2-0, 2-0) hit seven shots from beyond the arc and the Spartans dropped in eight shots from long range. Nelson had two of the three-pointers while Zimmerman, Malachi Coleman, Cannon Fitch and Shane Marth added a three-pointer to the team’s tally.

Because the schedule had to be moved around, the team will have a couple of potentially tiring stretches during the season including playing Whitehall (5-2 overall, 4-1 EPC) in the opener of the Whitehall Christmas Tournament and then finishing up the tournament the next day. After a day off, the Tigers will be back on the road with a trip to Bangor (4-2 overall, 4-1 Colonial) to face the Slaters.

Leading up to the tournament in Whitehall, the Tigers host Saucon Valley (3-1, 3-1) and then play road games at Palmerton (2-5, 2-4) and Pottsville (4-2, 3-1).