Bulldogs win title in 3 OTs

BETHLEHEM - Northern Lehigh had chances at the end of the first two overtimes, but missed the front of two one and ones.

Finally, with four seconds left in the third overtime Evan Biegley stepped sank two free throws, sealing a 46-43 win over Notre Dame (Green Pond) in the Colonial League Championship game at Freedom High School.

"Shoot around and warm ups I was practicing foul shots," Beigley said. "My shot was spot on so I didn't even hesitate.

"I was part of two Colonial League championships as a freshman and as a sophomore. This one means the most to me. This is the biggest game of my life."

Northern Lehigh, which got to the final with an overtime win over Wilson Wednesday, played the game defensive game it needed to against the top-seeded Crusaders, allowing them them to 30-percent shooting (17-for56) from the field.

"We wanted to keep the score under 50 and we thought we had a chance," Northern Lehigh head coach Rich Oertner said. "And we wanted them to stop fastbreaking. That was the whole key to our defense - stopping them from fastbreaking and making them get into a set offense."

Oertner and his staff planned a triangle and two to limit Notre Dame's Joe Giangiobbe and Andrew Kohler, but they decided to go with their usual man-to-man with Joey Seremula guarding league MVP Giangiobbe.

"We had a tough time getting [Giangiobbe] the ball inside," said Notre Dame head coach Pat Boyle.

Seremula held him to 11 points on 4-for-9 shooting. The Crusaders are a run and gun team, but they never got their transition game going.

The Bulldogs dictated the tempo for most of the game, especially in overtime. They finished regulation at 35-35.

The Crusaders went up 38-35 on a Scott Caliguire foul shot and a Kohler basket.

Northern Lehigh's Bobby Hahn answered with a tying three-pointer and Joey Seremula sank two free throws for a 40-38 lead. Hahn missed the front end of a one-and-one that could have put his team ahead by four.

The Crusaders took advantage with a Kohler put-back basket with six seconds left.

The second overtime saw no offense. Each team missed the front end of a one-and-one, Giangiobbe for the Crusaders and Pappas for Northern Lehigh.

Pappas had a huge game defensively, leading the team with 13 rebounds. He blocked four shots in overtime to help his team stay in the game.

The Bulldogs pulled ahead by two on a Sermula basket early in the third overtime. Jordan Waylen hit one of two and the foul line to put his team up 43-40, but a Giangiobee basket closed the gap to one.

Pappas and Giangiobe each hit one of two free throws to make it 44-43 before Biegley stepped up and made it a three-point game with four seconds left.

NORTHERN LEHIGH

Seremula 2-2-2-6, Hahn 3-0-1-7, Glose 0-0-0-0, Waylen 5-1-2-12, Biegley 4-6-6-14, Johnson 0-0-0-0, Pappas 3-1-5-7. TOTALS: 17-10-16-46

NOTRE DAME

Giangiobbe 4-3-5-11, Rizzetto 2-0-0-5, Salerno 2-0-0-5, Kohler 4-1-1-9, Caliguire 2-1-2-4,5, Ambielli 2-0-0-5, Hughes 1-0-1-2. TOTALS: 17-5-9-43.

Northern Lehigh 9 12 6 8 5 0 6 - 46

Notre Dame 12 6 9 8 5 0 3 - 43

Three-pointers: NL - Hahn 1, Waylen 1. ND - Rizzetto 1, Salerno 1, Kohler 1, Ambielli 1.