Two of the hottest boys basketball teams in the area met up on the opening night of the Zephyr Holiday Classic at Whitehall High School last Friday as Northwestern and tournament host Whitehall both entered the event with five-game winning streaks.

The two teams played in front of a packed gymnasium thanks to a pregame ceremony to retire the jersey number of former Zephyrs great Pete Lisicky. In the end, the host team came out on top with a 60-54 win.

Northwestern had trouble stopping 6-foot-8 A.J. Hines, who scored a career-high 27 points for the Zephyrs (9-2).

The Tigers trailed by nine at halftime before rallying for a 42-41 lead after three quarters. The game came down to the foul line with Whitehall hitting 9 of 12 free throws and Northwestern going just 1-for-10.

The opening night loss put Northwestern into the consolation game Saturday against another EPC opponent, the Nazareth Blue Eagles. Like Northwestern, the Eagles also had a five-game winning streak snapped in their tournament opener Friday against Delco Christian.

Nazareth (7-3) was not able to control the Northwestern offense as the Tigers opened a 31-21 lead at halftime and went on to win 71-52, the second time this season they have broken the 70-point mark in a game.

For the tournament, Northwestern’s Gavin Nelson scored 38 points, after scoring 21 against Nazareth on Saturday. Nelson was named to the All-Tournament team with Hines being honored as the tournament’s MVP. Shane Marth had 10 against Whitehall and finished with 16 against Nazareth and Eli Zimmerman had a two-game total of 25 points for the Tigers.

Northwestern (4-0 Colonial, 6-1 overall) will host Kutztown Thursday night and play at Notre Dame of Green Pond (7-0, 8-3) on Saturday. The Tigers will make it three games in four days with back-to-back games Monday and Tuesday hosting Wilson (6-2, 8-2) and Northern Lehigh (2-4, 2-7).