Northwestern senior Ryan Hippensteel walked onto the court during halftime to begin shooting around before the second half. He walked to a precise location on the court and made three consecutive shots from that spot when he thought no one was watching.

About 30 minutes later, Hippensteel, with the entire crowd watching him, drained a three-pointer from that same spot to clinch a 77-73 upset victory over Catasauqua on Senior Night at Northwestern Lehigh High School to finish the 2016-17 season for the Tigers.

“That’s been my spot all season in practice,” Hippensteel said with a grin.

The Tigers were all smiles after the game as Hippensteel’s shot gave Northwestern (8-14 overall, 6-12 Colonial League) a three-point lead with 6.8 seconds left and put the Tigers on a path to victory in their season finale.

Hippensteel, who will be attending Penn State, was just one of five members of this year’s senior class. He was joined by Trevor Cunningham, Matthew Freeman, Rob Seyfried and Jacob Ruch. All five started for the Tigers in their finals game of the season.

Hippensteel finished with 13 points and may have hit the clutch shot in the final seconds, but it was Seyfried who led the way to the end. Seyfried, who is unsure of his post-graduation plans, had a game-high 27 points, including nine in the final frame.

“This was my last game I was going to play in high school, so I just went out there and literally gave it all that I had,” Seyfried said, in a sea of classmates who filled the student section.

Cunningham, who along with Seyfried were the only seniors who started regularly for Northwestern, scored 12 points. His final four points came from four consecutive foul shots in the final 2:07 of the game to give the Tigers a slight lead in the back-and-forth final quarter.

Freeman finished with eight points while battling foul trouble and Ruch ended the night scoreless.

Some underclassmen got playing time, including sophomore Sam Yadush, who finished with 12 points, but no matter what the score was, those seniors were going into finish the game, according to head coach Billy Hallman.

“At some point they were going in,” he said. “I looked up with just under four minutes left and we were down two. I said what better spot to put them in. I challenged them and told them to go win a basketball game. They did just that.”

Hallman said that Seyfried is the on-court leader while Hippensteel is the vocal leader, but overall the entire quintet of seniors took the reins of the team.

“They are such good leaders because they take the younger guys in and work with them at practice on the side,” Hallman said. “They show them the little things that we are looking for them to do. It’s not always on the court. They are just such good guys. Everybody hangs out outside of basketball, which you can see on the court. It all starts with those guys. If they don’t have that attitude, nobody has that attitude. I respect them so much.”

Just moments after the game and the dramatic finish of his Northwestern basketball career, Seyfried summed up what he felt about the last four years.

“It was amazing, that’s all I can really say. It’s been fun,” he said.