NW eliminated by Becahi

WHITEHALL — Throughout the season, Northwestern developed a reputation for being a scrappy team that fought back when they needed to.

They did just that against Bethlehem Catholic Friday night, but in the end, it was the Golden Hawks who came through late for a 56-39 win over the Tigers in the District 11 4A quarterfinals.

Becahi led the whole way after going up 2-0 on its first trip down the court. By the end of the first quarter, the Hawks were up 15-6 — but the best was yet to come for Northwestern.

The Tigers defense kept their opponent scoreless through the first half of the quarter and used a 7-0 run to cut the lead to 15-11 with 4:30 left until halftime. Later in the frame, Vinnie Castrine hit a three-pointer and Luke Hallman hit a turnaround jumper to cut the margin to 20-18. Becahi, however, was able to rattle off a couple late baskets from Alex Cercado to extend their advantage to 24-18 at the break.

“We’ve been known for our defense all season,” said Northwestern head coach Billy Hallman. “I thought we played especially well in the second quarter on both sides of the court, and we really pulled ourselves right back into the game. It was unfortunate that they got those late baskets, but we were still in pretty good shape at that point.”

Nick Henry drained a three-pointer with 6:09 left in the third to cut the Hawks’ lead to three, and a minute later it was down to two when Deven Bollinger hit from down low.

From there, though, Bethlehem Catholic’s Ryan Glassmacher and Matt Stianche combined for nine points over the next two minutes during an 11-0 run to push the score to 39-26. Glassmacher started the run with a three-pointer, and it was capped by Bryan Santana’s two-pointer with 2:01 left in the period.

“Their athleticism kind of wore us down a bit as the game went on, and they started to play much better defense,” said Hallman. “That run really hurt us, and at that point it was tough to come back against a team like that.”

Northwestern (11-12) never gave up and looked to fight back throughout the final eight minutes, but couldn’t rattle off a run to get close enough. Bethlehem Catholic (13-11) continued to pull away, finishing with the 56-39 win.

The Hawks’ Julian Thomas led all scorers with 16 points, while Northwestern was paced by Bollinger, who finished with 13. Bethlehem Catholic now advances to the District 11 semifinals and will face Tamaqua on Tuesday at a site and time to be determined.

END OF AN ERA ... Hallman was especially proud of his group of six seniors – including four starters – who were the first class that he has coached since they were in seventh grade, having them all through middle school and high school. “It’s kind of special to have a group like that, but they really helped to turn the program around and they should be proud of what they’ve accomplished,” Hallman said. The group helped the team to districts in each of their final three seasons after Northwestern missed playing in districts for eight straight years.

NO RETURN TRIP ... A win would have sent the Tigers to the PIAA tournament for the second straight season. Instead, the Golden Hawks wrapped up a spot in states.

NORTHWESTERN

Hebelka 0-0-0-0, Sosnovik 0-0-0-0, Bollinger 5-3-6-13, McCann 0-0-0-0, Castrine 1-1-2-4, Henry 4-0-2-9, Hallman 3-2-2-8, Pleban 0-0-0-0, Zack 0-0-0-0, Stitzel 0-0-0-0, Garrido 2-0-0-5. TOTALS: 15-6-12-39.

BETHLEHEM CATHOLIC

R. Santana 0-0-0-0, Palacios 0-0-0-0, B. Santana 1-0-0-2, Cercado 3-0-0-6, Stianche 4-0-0-8, Glassmacher 4-1-2-10, Recchio 0-0-0-0, Thomas 5-4-7-16, Alexander 5-1-3-11, Holmes 0-0-0-0, McClary 1-0-0-3. TOTALS: 23-6-12-56.

Northwestern 6 12 12 9 - 39

Bethlehem Cath. 15 9 17 15 - 56

Three-pointers: Northwestern - Castrine 1, Henry 1, Garrido 1; Bethlehem Catholic - Thomas 2, Glassmacher 1, McClary 1.