The Northwestern boys basketball team kept its undefeated record intact over the past week with a hectic four-game schedule. The games combined a little bit of everything, from a blowout to a one-point win over a rival school.

“I think we’re pretty gritty and I think we are starting to come together as a unit,” said Tiger head coach Pat Wanamaker. “I think when we play as one, especially defensively, we’re really strong.”

Senior Mason Bollinger averaged 15.5 points per game over the four games this past week, including a career-high 21 points Monday night against Northern Lehigh in a 49-48 win in the basketball version of the Mountain Road Rumble.

Bollinger is averaging 15 points per game on the season.

While Northwestern often has multiple double-digit scorers in a game, ironically, the closest game of the season was the only game this season where the Tigers did not have multiple scorers reach double figures.

The rest of the scoring was balanced with Brady Krimmel hitting a pair of threes on his way to eight points and Cannon Fitch hitting two from beyond the arc to finish with six. Three other players finished with four points in the game.

Bollinger also led all scorers with 16 points in a 64-40 win at Saucon Valley. Malachi Coleman had 12 points and Brady Zimmerman finished with 11 to beat the Panthers. In a 66-41 win at Moravian Academy, four players reached double figures as Krimmel led the team with 16, while Bollinger, Coleman and Fitch all had 12.

Saturday afternoon, Northwestern hosted Palmerton and it looked like the two teams were going to be engaged in a tight, back-and-forth battle with the game tied 15-15 at the end of the first quarter.

Almost midway through the second quarter, Palmerton held a 22-20 lead, but Northwestern went on a 10-0 run for the rest of the quarter and came out to start the third with five more unanswered points to lead 35-22 with 5:45 left in quarter number three.

Krimmel scored seven of his nine points in the second quarter to help the Tigers push their lead.

Northwestern’s defense held Palmerton to just four third quarter points.

Coleman took over when the teams came out of the locker room after halftime and scored 11 of his game-high 19 points in the quarter as the Tigers opened up a 41-26 lead.

“We were just pushing it, and we started to look for the open spots,” said Coleman of the team’s resurgence. “We weren’t really swinging the ball around the whole key, so that’s what we changed in the second half.”

As seniors, both Coleman and Cannon Fitch have stepped up to take leadership roles with the team, which has helped to pull the players together. Their leadership is having an impact both on and off the court.

“Malachi and Cannon put more time in during the offseason than most players do,” said Wanamaker. “They’re basketball junkies. They love the game. Malachi did some really good things today and made some shots down the stretch. Cannon wasn’t making shots like he usually does from the outside, but he still was doing the right thing, playing super hard defensively.

So those guys get all the credit, and they deserve all the recognition and accolades they have coming.”

With Northwestern in command, both teams were able to empty their benches in the final quarter of play to give varsity playing time to some of their younger players.

Northwestern was able to continue their lead and picked up their fifth straight win 62-33.

Northwestern (6-0 overall, 5-0 Colonial) has a strong formula for winning this season.

In four of its six games they surpassed the 60-point plateau as a team. Until the Bulldogs scored 48 points against them Monday night, Northwestern had allowed fewer points in each game than it did in their previous game.

It gave up 56 points in its season opener at Southern Lehigh and then allowed 47, 41, 40, and 33 points in its next four games.