While Saucon Valley has beaten Salisbury three times this season – twice in the regular season and once in the Colonial League playoffs – the Falcons can get some revenge when the two teams meet in the District 11 Class 4A boys basketball quarterfinals Friday night at Easton Middle School.

That’s when Salisbury could end the season for the Panthers with a win in the opening round of play and move on in its own quest for a district title.

While the Panthers have had the upper hand in the meetings this season, Julian Makhoul has put up some nice numbers against Saucon Valley.

The sophomore scored 15 points in each of the first two meetings before being held to eight points, right around his season average, in the league playoff game.

In the first regular season meeting between the two teams, Steven Lozada, who was given an honorable mention for the all-league team by coaches, helped out with 14 points in a game decided by just four points. Besides Makhoul, no other Salisbury players were able to get into double digits in the second of the two regular season games and Salisbury fell by 13 points.

When the league playoff game rolled around, it was Drew Petrie who tried to put the Falcons on his back late in the game by scoring 11 of his team-high 14 points in the fourth quarter, but the Salisbury rally wasn’t accompanied by enough defense and the Panthers turned a game that was tied at 33 after three quarters into a 53-45 win as they put up 20 points in the game’s final eight minutes. Lozada scored 11 points in that game for the Falcons.

Defensively, Salisbury has not found the right combination to stop senior guard Jack Robertson, who is averaging just under 16 points per game in the three games this season.

In the league playoff game, Robertson scored 11 of his game-high 17 points in the fourth quarter, which was disappointing because he was held to just three points in the first half as the Falcons took a 22-17 lead at the break.

The Panthers (19-5) are the three seed in the district playoffs with Salisbury (14-9) being the sixth-seeded team. The winner of the game will face the winner of the Panther Valley and Allentown Central Catholic quarterfinal game in the semifinal round. That game will be played at Whitehall High School Friday night with Panther Valley being seeded fifth and Central Catholic second in 4A.