A five-point victory may seem like a major cushion for Bethlehem Catholic after the Golden Hawks closed out Saturday’s 50-45 win over Liberty.

For Becahi (9-5, 6-4), the win over their city rival proved to be important on several fronts, but maybe the most important aspect of it was the Hawks ability to close out another tight contest.

Saturday’s win over Liberty marked the first time in six games that the Hawks haven’t played a contest that went down to the final possession. In their previous five games, four of them were one-point margins, while a 58-56 win over Nazareth last week was their largest cushion for a win since December 28.

All these close battles in the East Penn Conference finally paid some dividends in their weekend win over Liberty, where the Hawks learned to close out.

“I think we’re getting better with our ability to finish in the fourth quarter,” said head coach Ray Barbosa, who has turned a three-win team from a year ago into a playoff contender. “These last five games that we played really helped us against Liberty because they’re used to being in close games. It’s taught them how to execute in the clutch.”

Those lessons should help the Hawks down the stretch, as they look to cement their status as a district team this week with a three game slate, needing two wins to solidify a postseason berth.

Becahi traveled to Easton (5-9) on Tuesday and then host North Schuylkill (7-6) on Thursday, capped off by Friday’s home game against Dieruff (3-11).

The Hawks could be primed for a three-game sweep this week and if they have aspirations of qualifying for the EPC playoffs, they’ll need to win as many games in the conference as they can, since Emmaus, Parkland, Central Catholic, Pocono Mountain West and Allen have all clinched league playoff berths.

That leaves three spots up in the air with five teams (Stroudsburg (9-6, 6-3), Freedom (9-7, 6-4), Whitehall (9-6, 5-5) and Northampton (9-7, 5-5), spearheading that charge to the postseason.

“With how tight the league is right now, we need to win these games this week,” Barbosa said. “It would be huge going forward if we wouldn’t have to worry about qualifying for districts heading into next week.”