Northern Lehigh routs Tigers

With the basketball season growing short on games, teams are looking for every win they can get.

Northern Lehigh and Northwestern are natural rivals and with the two teams so close in the Colonial League standings, the 71-46 win that the Bulldogs picked up Friday night was especially big.

“Every game right now is a playoff game for us,” said Northern Lehigh coach Jeff Miller. “We come out every night and look at it as we need that win because it’s the playoffs. It’s getting down to the wire and I think for us, it’s good to be in that type of mindset the rest of the way.”

Preston Kemery scored 21 points for Northern Lehigh (12-7, 8-6), with Brandon Hess right behind with 19 points. Kemery was content to hit short jumpers and drive the lane for his points while Hess nailed a game-high three three-pointers.

With Northwestern (9-10, 7-7) holding a one-point advantage late in the first quarter, the Tigers got back-to-back threes from Sean McCann and Sam Yadush to go up by seven. Kemery drove the lane for a basket with just :15 left in the first quarter to cut it back to a five-point game.

Zach Moyer drove the lane to tie the game 16-16 with 4:29 left in the first half and 30 seconds later, Nick Seier hit a jumper to give the Bulldogs their first lead – albeit short-lived – of the night. After Northwestern tied the game, Northern Lehigh went on an 8-2 run and led 27-21 at the half.

Miller changed his defensive scheme to a man-to-man set and believed that it had the desired effect of wearing down Northwestern late in the game.

Northern Lehigh came out firing in the third quarter, while Northwestern struggled to find shots. Hess scored nine of his 19 points in the third quarter as Northern Lehigh opened up a 47-29 lead at the end of three quarters, which was their largest lead of the night to that point.

If the third quarter belonged to Hess, the fourth belonged to Kemery, who would score eight points from the floor and go four-for-five from the line.

“The last couple of weeks, Preston has had that look in his eye,” said Miller. “I think he’s realizing that he’s a senior and it’s getting to be late in the season and he doesn’t want this to stop. He’s played the best basketball of his career over the past couple of weeks.”

Hess, who scored the 1,000th point of his career a night earlier, also gave kudos to his fellow senior for how he has played.

“Preston has been awesome,” said Hess. “He and Zach [Moyer] both played really well tonight and they hit some foul shots down the stretch and really helped put this away for us.”

Northwestern was led by Yadush’s 15 points scoring 13.

HONORS ... Prior to the game, Hess was presented with the game ball from Thursday night’s game agBeforetre Dame of Green Pond when Hess crossed the 1,000-point plateau. “It was great to get the game ball here at home. It’s a great honor and I appreciate all the support that I’ve gotten,” said Hess.

MORE HONORS ... At halftime of the game, Northern Lehigh placed three new banners on its Wall of Fame. Frank Carazo, who served as an assistant football coach and head baseball coach among wearing many other hats at both Slatington and Northern Lehigh High Schools was inducted, along with former football player, coach and Phys Ed teacher Larry Parry, who played for Slatington High School from 1963-1966. Parry also served as the head girls basketball coach. In addition to Carazo and Parry, the 1968 football team was honored for winning the LVIA Championship with a 9-1 record.

M.I.A.... Northwestern played the game without several key contributors in Luke Hallman, Devin Bollinger and Sam Seyfried.

NORTHWESTERN

Rosamalia 0-0-0-0, Hebelka 1-0-3-2, Yadush 5-2-3-15, J. Holmes 0-0-0-0, Hagadus 0-0-2-0, McCann 2-0-0-6, Rebert 0-0-1-0, Henry 2-0-0-5, Snyder 0-1-2-1, Thomas 5-3-3-13, D. Holmes 2-0-0-4, Garrido 0-0-0-0, TOTALS 17-6-14-46

NORTHERN LEHIGH

Keller 3-0-0-7, Mujovic 0-0-0-0, Richards 0-0-0-0, Olewine 0-0-0-0, Kemery 8-5-6-21, Moyer 4-4-4-12, Seier 4-4-7-12, Kroll 0-0-0-0 Hess 7-2-3-19, Smith 0-0-0-0, TOTALS 26-15-20-71

Northwestern 12 9 8 17 - 46

No. Lehigh 7 20 20 24 - 71

Three-pointers: NW - Yadush 3, McCann 2, Henry 1. NL - Hess 3, Keller 1