The Northampton boys basketball team suffered a devastating loss to Pocono Mountain West on Tuesday night. The previously 4-9 Panthers came South and knocked off the K-Kids 41-40 on a three-pointer with 11 seconds left in the game.

Head Coach Coy Stampone was blunt in his assessment.

“We can’t get down 10 nothing and score only 10 points in the first half and expect to win. We laid an egg in the first half. We can’t feel sorry for ourselves because we have another game tomorrow.”

In fact, Northampton was down 12-0 before they scored their first points with 4:09 left in the first quarter. The K-Kids had issues securing the ball on the defensive end as West grabbed 6 offensive rebounds on the way to posting a lead 16-3 at the end of the period.

A lackluster second quarter by both teams left Northampton facing a 22-10 deficit at the intermission.

The Kids’ fortunes changed early in the third period when the Panthers’ 6-9 center Chris Fermin picked up his 4th foul with 5:45 left in the quarter. With the big man sitting, Northampton went on a 17-4 run on its way to seizing 32-26 lead by the time the buzzer sounded.

With Fermin back in the game to start the final quarter, West outscored the Kids 9-2 over the first three minutes to take the lead back. A pair of Isaac Harris baskets and West three-pointer left the game tied at 38-38 with 1:39 remaining.

Donte Rodriguez hit a short jumper with 35 seconds left to put Northampton on top. The Panthers got their three from the top of the arc 24 seconds later.

The K-Kids got the ball across half court and narrowly avoided a turnover when they were awarded a timeout with 4.4 seconds left when they were trapped near the Northampton bench. An off-balance 17-foot jump shot by Zac Gula hit off the back of the iron as the horn signaled the end of the game.

Rodriguez led the Kids with 16 points on 8 of 9 shooting. Harris added 8. Gula and Jake Christman had 4 points each.

The loss puts the team’s record at 8-6 on the season, 4-6 in the EPC.

On Friday night, Northampton hosts East Stroudsburg South. The Cavaliers currently have a 10-5 record and are running away with the Mountain Division. On Tuesday, the K-Kids travel to Whitehall to face the resurgent Zephyrs. Northampton won the first meeting of the season by 17 points, but since then Whitehall has gone 8-4 to climb ahead of the Kids in the district standings.