Every week, Catasauqua head boys' basketball coach Eric Snyder continues to watch his team evolve in many different ways.

Last week, the Roughies won a tight -knit battle with Southern Lehigh, 58-57, in the game's final four seconds when Derrick Bond hit a three-pointer with 14 seconds left and then tapped in a rebound in the final four seconds to cap his 18-point performance.

The next afternoon, Catty traveled across the border to Phillipsburg and dropped a hard-fought physical battle, 62-50, with the Stateliners.

Their victory gave them a 4-2 league mark and kept them within striking distance of Bangor and Northern Lehigh, and also helped them inch a step closer to a coveted district playoff berth. Their defeat evened their mark at 5-5 overall.

Against Southern Lehigh, Dakota Schiffer came off the bench to start at point guard for Brandon Purrone, who didn't play due to a coach's decision. Schiffer responded with a season-high 21 points.

"Beating Southern Lehigh was a huge win for us," said Snyder, who is two victories shy of the 300-win career mark (298-247). "We played hard and did a good job on the boards. Derrick (Bond) and his brother (Kevin) along with Paryss (Marshall) controlled the boards for us.

"(Schiffer) has done a great job for us. He started the game with a couple of steals and he has really adjusted well to everything. He has been a real sparkplug off the bench for us, and we thought about getting him into the (starting) lineup soon.

"The Phillipsburg game was a very physical one. We also didn't shoot the ball well at all. We just couldn't get into any kind of flow at all against them."

Working to develop a bench has been one of Snyder's goals all season, and he has seen progress in recent weeks. Snyder credited the ongoing development of Ricky Houser and Sean Klobosits, both of whom have been prominent in the front court.

Snyder also has been patient with the play of Purrone, who miraculously has been playing with a torn ACL.

"He's not the same player as he was," said Snyder of Purrone, who returned to the lineup against Phillipsburg. "He can't cut to the basket like he used to and that frustrates him. He doesn't have the same explosiveness due to his injury, but he has been working to adjust."

Snyder also still believes his team has to develop their half-court offense.

"Our half-court offense is not good enough," he said. "We need to let it work itself through and we don't pick well. We're looking to the first option and that's not always there. We haven't executed it well and we need to be patient."

The Roughies will get a further read on their progress this week when they begin a busy four-game schedule that began with Salisbury Tuesday. They also will face Lehighton, Palisades, and Notre Dame.

With some early season parody in the league, Snyder is confident his club possibly can make a late-season run that resembled their second-half surge.