The Northwestern Lehigh boys basketball team bounced back after three losses to win its next two games.

The losses haven’t done much damage to Northwestern in the Colonial League standings. With a stretch of league games on the docket, the team can make up the little bit of ground that it lost.

Notre Dame (Green Pond) extended the Tigers’ skid to three straight games. The Crusaders (10-2 overall, 8-0 Colonial) are on top of the overall league standings thanks to their 72-70 win over Northwestern.

The Tigers held a 39-36 halftime lead against the Crusaders, but Notre Dame was up 56-52 going into the final quarter. Mason Bollinger (21 points) and Brady Zimmerman (20) were the two top scorers in the game with Malachi Coleman (11) and Cannon Fitch (10) also getting into double digits.

Notre Dame made 12 three-pointers in the game. The Tigers have allowed over six three-pointers per game this season and in their last seven games have allowed just over nine shots from beyond the arc. That stretch began with their loss at Pottsville two days before Christmas when the Crimson Tide also hit for 12 threes in a 64-62 overtime loss for the Tigers.

After the tough loss, the Tigers were right back in action the following day when they were in a nonleague contest against Kutztown. Bollinger scored 20 points for his third straight game with at least 20 points, and the Northwestern defense was much better as they beat Kutztown 59-45.

Monday night wrapped up a three games in four days with the Tigers traveling to Wilson (9-3, 7-3) for a 62-58 win. The game kicked off 10 straight games against Colonial League opponents that will take the team through the rest of the regular season schedule.

Senior Cannon Fitch contributed from the foul line against the Warriors came when he hit nine of 11 free throws in the fourth quarter to make him 12-for-14 from the line in the game. Fitch led Northwestern with 17 points while Zimmerman scored 15 and Brady Krimmel chipped in with 13 points.

The schedule has back-to-back games on Thursday and Friday with a trip to Saucon Valley (4-7, 2-7) followed by a big game against Salisbury on Friday night in New Tripoli.

The Falcons were the first 4A team in District 11 to clinch a spot in districts and lead the 4A group with an 11-1 record. They are 7-1 in league games, which has them third overall in the league standings and tied with Southern Lehigh in the South Division. Salisbury defeated the Spartans recently to catch them for that top spot.

On Monday, Northwestern travels to Palmerton before starting a stretch of three straight home games with another showdown with Notre Dame starting that run of games.