Salisbury’s defense held Saucon Valley to just four first quarter points and the Falcons led 22-17 at halftime of the Colonial League boys basketball semifinals.

But the Falcons but they were unable to keep the momentum in the second half against the Panthers and were eliminated from the league tournament with a 53-45 loss. While the Falcons, which entered the league playoffs as the No. 6 seed, will not win a league title, they have also qualified for districts and will likely be the sixth seed when the District 11 4A tournament begins later this month.

The Salisbury offense was not exactly clicking on all cylinders in the opening quarter either with just a three-pointer from Drew Petrie being the difference in scoring with the Falcons up 7-4 after the first eight minutes. Both teams started to get on track in the second quarter as Salisbury (14-9) expanded their lead to five points at the break.

Salisbury’s Steven Lozada and Saucon Valley’s Adam Clark led the scoring with seven points each at halftime, but ultimately it would be the Panthers’ Jack Robertson that helped to lead No. 3 seed Saucon Valley to the win as he hit a key three-pointer in the third quarter to tie the game at 33 heading into the final quarter of play.

Robertson took over the game in the final quarter as he posted 11 of his game high 17 points in the final quarter with six of them coming on 10 foul shot attempts. Keaton Frye scored 11 second half points to keep Salisbury close, but the Panthers were able to pull away for the win and a spot in the semifinals. Frye finished the game leading Salisbury with 14 points just ahead of Steven Lozada who finished with 11 points in the game.

Currently, Salisbury is the sixth seed in the district playoffs and would face a rematch against Saucon Valley in the opening round of districts on Feb. 21.