On Friday night, the Northampton boys basketball team faced the top team in the EPC Mountain Division, East Stroudsburg South. The K-Kids held an 8-point lead at halftime, but ultimately fell 56-52.

Northampton was down 7-1 early in the game before scoring 12 points over the last 5 minutes of the first quarter to take a 13-11 lead at the end of the period.

The Kids did most of their damage in the second quarter from the free throw line, converting 8 of 9 attempts on the way to amassing a 30-22 advantage at the intermission.

Senior captain Zac Gula sparked Northampton’s first half offense, scoring 12 points on 5 of 6 shooting from the field.

The Kids’ third quarter was marred by some sloppy ball handling as they endured a three-minute scoreless streak on the way to seeing their lead evaporate. It took a pair of Isaac Harris free throws with 5 seconds left in the period to send the game to the final stanza tied at 40.

The game was tied 48-48 with 3:16 remaining. Over the next two minutes, the Cavaliers built a 53-50 lead.

A Harris steal led to a Donte Rodriguez layup that cut the deficit to one with a minute left. ESS broke the Northampton press to score a layup of their own with 51 seconds to go to make the score 55-52.

The Kids’ next possession ended in a blocked shot, but ESS missed the front end of a 1-and-1 to keep it a one-score game.

The next three possessions unfolded: Kids turnover, ESS missed 1-and-1, blocked Kids’ shot with 7 seconds left.

The Cavaliers finally made a free throw to put the game out of reach.

Head coach Coy Stampone summed up the difference in the game.

“We had a lot of turnovers in the second half,” he said. “We had opportunities. It was just two different games, first half, second half. I thought we could have built on the lead in the first half and we didn’t capitalize.”

Harris led the team with 16 points. Gula finished with 14. Rodriguez scored 11 and Jared Saul added 6.

On Tuesday, the team beat Whitehall 57-40 to claim their second Cement Belt Challenge point of the season. The win also got Northampton to within one game of securing a district playoff berth.

On Friday the Kids will host Emmaus and the seniors will be honored before the game. Northampton lost to the Hornets, 48-44 on Dec. 12. On Saturday, the team will travel to Blue Mountain for a nonleague afternoon game. The Eagles are 13-3 on the season and have locked up a District XI 5A spot. Tuesday will be the team’s final home game of the season. The Kids will look to avoid being swept by Parkland. The Trojans won the first meeting 51-34.