A few nights after Liberty registered one of their best wins of the season, the Hurricanes saw their journey through the EPC tournament come to an end.

Defending league champion Northampton controlled the pace and pulled away in the fourth quarter of Monday night’s league semifinals en route to a 34-25 victory at the PPL Center.

The win sets up a championship showdown between Northampton and Parkland on Thursday night at 8 p.m. back in Allentown, while Liberty gets set for the District 11 6A tournament.

Monday night was a defensive struggle on both ends, but the Kids took the lead for good with 3:09 left in the fourth quarter off a Brady Simock bucket. It was the start of a 10-0 run that Northampton closed the game on, as Liberty was held scoreless in the final 5:12 of the fourth quarter.

Head coach Nigel Long knew the second-seeded K-Kids would be a disciplined group and tough to breakdown throughout the night.

“Northampton is very well coached and they have talented and skilled players,” said Long. “All five players on the floor can dribble, pass and shoot. They play with really strong discipline and patience offensively. Their matchup zone is unique as it’s not your traditional zone defense. They are active in their defense and get steals.”

Neither team had a player hit double digits, as Simock and Leo Regec led Northampton with eight points apiece.

Liberty’s Dylan Bilger and Quin Lucas-Bishop led the team with seven points each. Northampton (20-4) kept Liberty star Jake Pukszyn in check to only four points on the night.

It was quite the contrast to the Hurricanes 52-44 quarterfinal win over Pocono Mountain West last Friday night, where Pukszyn led all scorers with 21 points.

“We were able to limit turnovers and create extra shots with our offensive rebounding,” said Long of knocking off the third-seeded Panthers (19-4). “Defensively, we really executed our game plan which is a credit to our kids.”

With the postseason getting underway next week, Liberty (15-9) will likely be seeded sixth again.

Despite Monday’s loss, Long is confident that his team is playing their ball at the moment.

“Over the last few weeks we have been playing much better and executing on both sides of the floor,” he said. “That has given us a chance against the top teams in our league.”