For the Catasauqua boys’ basketball team, it is a matter of confidence and maturity.

Through their first two games this season, the Roughies certainly have battled, but they have fallen short in crucial periods of the games. As a result, Catty has dropped its first two games of the season, ones that easily could have tilted in their direction.

Their latest defeat was a 62-53 loss to Notre Dame Monday night in which the Roughies had a 19-15 lead after one quarter and a 28-27 advantage at the half.

Head coach Eric Snyder believed the night was a battle of attrition.

“We came out and had all five starters score in the first quarter and then we went cold shooting in the second quarter,” said Snyder. “Due to our lack of height, we have guards playing like forwards.

“Our guys are fighting, but I think we just run out of gas. We don’t have enough depth. They (Notre Dame) came out and scored the first five points of the third quarter, and then they had an eight to 10-point lead the rest of the time.

“We had cut the lead to 58-53 with just over two minutes, but we couldn’t hit a big shot.”

Junior guard Isaiah Graves led the Roughies and all scorers with 29 points and freshman forward Jalen Green and junior forward Cullen Bond all had eight.

Snyder will be looking for more a balanced effort down the stretch.

“Isaiah (Graves) will score for us, but we need other people to step up,” he said. “We were really moving the ball well early, but then we just started looking for Isaiah (Graves) to shoot. I don’t know what it is. Isaiah (Graves) is the only player with a lot of varsity experience out there, and it may just be a matter of inexperience and confidence for us.”

Their game against Nazareth followed a similar pattern as the Roughies dropped a tight 55-50 contest Dec. 9. Graves had another big night as he had 40 of his team’s 50 points. Green added nine points.

“I thought we played well enough to win and we were right there,” added Snyder. “Isaiah (Graves) was on fire in the first quarter and we got off to a good start. We played a match-up zone and we were talking on defense. We played it as well as we could.

“We battled on the boards and it truly was a great team effort.”

Snyder was optimistic his team could gain its first win against Northwestern Wednesday night. However, the Roughies will travel to Southern Lehigh Friday and then to Palmerton Saturday afternoon.

“We really could use a win against Northwestern,” said Snyder. “We know we will have a challenge against Southern Lehigh and then we turn right around with a game at Palmerton.

“But we have had two great efforts and we believe we can get there.”