With a spot in the Colonial League playoffs on the line, the Salisbury boys basketball team welcomed rival Southern Lehigh to its gym last Wednesday and got the win it needed in order to reach the Colonial League playoffs.

The 57-45 win locked up a spot for the Falcons and they put an exclamation point on the regular season by beating Palisades 44-29 in the season finale Friday night.

Four Salisbury players – Bryan Gonzalez, Josh Holler, Steven Lozada, and Drew Petrie – scored in double digits to get the win over the Spartans. Salisbury opened a quick 8-0 lead behind three pointers from Julian Makhoul and Gonzalez, but Southern Lehigh battled from behind with an 8-0 run in the first quarter to finish down by just two at the end of the first eight minutes.

The Salisbury defense stiffened in the second quarter and allowed the Falcons (11-7 Colonial, 14-8 overall) to open a 28-22 lead at halftime after leading by as many as nine points in the quarter.

With the playoff spot on the line not just for Salisbury but for Southern Lehigh as well, the Spartans (8-9 Colonial, 11-10 overall) refused to go away. A pair of threes from Petrie and Holler kept Salisbury on top with a fairly comfortable lead that they stretched to 11 points late in the third quarter.

Lozada gave Salisbury a spark early in the final quarter with a quick jump shot and a pair of foul shots to put the Falcons up 47-34 with 4:20 left in regulation.

Again, the Spartans were not done as Jack Fistner and Morgan Capuano hit back-to-back three-pointers to draw within seven points. At that point, it seemed like the Falcons had enough and used their superior foul shooting to go up 53-40 as they hit on eight of 10 foul shots in the quarter and 12 of 15 in the game.

On the season, Salisbury has hit on 75 percent of its foul shots.

“This was the first time in a decade that we swept Southern Lehigh in the regular season,” said Lozada. “This win clinches a playoff spot for us, so it was a really important that we win this game tonight.”

Late in the game, Salisbury relied on its passing and ball handling to run 35 seconds off the clock before a Southern Lehigh player could even get close enough to foul them.

They repeated the drill and took :25 off the clock later in the fourth quarter. When Southern Lehigh did finally get the foul, Petrie sank both foul shots on his way to going 6-for-6 from the line in the quarter.

“We got our butts kicked at Catty (a 51-27 loss) and our focus and intensity wasn’t there,” said Salisbury coach Jason Weaver. “I’m most proud of the fact that we responded tonight, and we played a great game against a team that has been hot lately and has been on a bit of a run. We started off on fire and we kept the intensity up from there.”

Much of the success for Salisbury this season comes from being able to come together as a team and be sure to do the little things well.

“They’ve played together a lot, which is always nice,” said Weaver. “They can all handle the ball. They can all shoot, and I was proud of them. That long possession late in the game and then getting the two foul shots that came out of it was what we needed. It was old-school basketball, just pulling it back out and letting them come after us and chase us.”

“Staying together is really what’s keeping us going in games like this,” said Lozada. “We’ve had some down times and some two-game skids but we’ve stayed together through it and stayed confident in one another and that wins games for us.”

The Colonial League playoffs open on Saturday and the Falcons will be either the sixth or seventh seed based on what other teams do in their season finales. Salisbury will likely have to play at one of three schools: Notre Dame of Green Pond, Northwestern Lehigh or Saucon Valley.

The Spartans’ loss means that Southern Lehigh now needs to beat Catasauqua in its season finale to get the eighth seed. A loss to the Rough Riders would eliminate the Spartans from the league tournament, although both teams have clinched district playoff spots.

After Saturday’s quarterfinals round, winners will move on to the boys semifinals Wednesday at a neutral site. The league championship games (boys and girls) are slated for Friday, Feb. 14 at Freedom High School.