Steven Lozada and the Salisbury boys basketball team did the same thing on their first three trips down the floor against Southern Lehigh. And got the same result each time in a 45-40 win over Southern Lehigh last week.

Lozada noticed that Southern Lehigh opened the game in a match zone and knew he could hit from beyond the arc, especially when he was unguarded, he took advantage. The rest of the team did a good job of getting the ball to him and he hit two more threes from the same spot before the Spartans (8-3 overall, 5-3 Colonial) got the message and changed strategy.

“Once we hit three threes they had to come out of that zone and get somebody out there,” said Lozada. “I still got two more later in the game, which was nice.”

Lozada’s five three-pointers were a season-high for him and the team. The senior has hit at least one three-pointer in every game this season, except one. His 23 points on Saturday led all scorers in the game.

Southern Lehigh found its footing and battled back to trail by only three at the end of the first quarter. As the quarter approached the midway point, Wyatt Adams hit a pair of buckets to tie the game at 18-18 with 4:31 left until halftime. Lozada hit his two other threes and Salisbury worked their way to a 29-23 lead going into the break.

“We all play together well, and we’ve been playing together since middle school, so we’re all familiar with each other,” said Lozada. “We play hard defensively and everybody is involved and we come out and play as one. We know we’re going to win games.”

The Spartans dropped in a pair of three-pointers early in the third quarter to cut the lead to 31-30, but the Falcons (11-1, 7-1) led 37-30, their largest lead of the game heading into the fourth.

“I wrote on the board that whoever plays better defensively is going to win this game,” said Salisbury head coach Jason Weaver. “Offensively there’s a lot of talent out there, so whoever wanted to play better defense was going to win. I thought in the second half we really played well, and we played with patience and they lost their composure a little.”

Southern Lehigh was called for two technicals in the game.

Monday night, Salisbury hosted Catasauqua (6-4, 5-3) and trailed 25-24 at halftime only to see its defense hold the Rough Riders to just four third quarter points as the Falcons pushed their lead to 37-29 and held off a late rally to send Catty home with a 54-50 loss.

Julian Makhoul led the offense with a game-high 17 points. Drew Petrie scored 12. Garrett Leiner finished with 11.

Monday night’s win made the Falcons the first 4A team in District 11 to clinch a spot in districts. Salisbury currently stands fifth overall in the Colonial League and are in a three-way tie with both Southern Lehigh and Catasauqua for the top spot in the South Division.

The schedule doesn’t let up as Salisbury has to travel to Saucon Valley (4-7, 2-7) Thursday night. The Panthers were a nemesis for the Falcons last season as they eliminated them from both the league and district playoffs. Friday Northwestern (9-4, 8-1) visits Salisbury.