Last Friday’s EPC quarterfinal clash between Northampton and Whitehall looked to be a mismatch on paper. The Konkrete Kids were the defending EPC champions and had accumulated a 14-2 league record on their way to the number two seed.

The Zephyrs needed to win their final three games just to qualify for the tournament in a tie for the seventh seed with Central.

Anyone who walked into Pete Schneider Gymnasium with a minute and a half left in the first quarter would have had done a double take when looking at scoreboard. It read 12-0, but the crooked numbers were on the visitor’s side of the ledger.

The margin was 8 points, 12-4, at the end of the first quarter.

Whitehall led 26-19 at the half. They led 39-31 after three quarters. Their advantage was 46-37 with 5:50 left in the game.

And they never scored again.

Northampton scored the last 9 points of regulation, punctuated by Noah Walakovits’ tying three-pointer with just over a minute remaining in the game to send the contest into overtime.

After not leading for a single second in regulation, the K-Kids outscored the Zephyrs 11-0 in the extra period, highlighted by Walakovits going 6-for-6 from the free throw line. Final score: Northampton 57-Whitehall 46, closing the game with a 20-0 run.

The senior captain described the comeback, “We’ve been playing together for a while, so we know what to do when we get down. Just stay composed and play our game. Late in the fourth quarter we just started getting stops and pushing the ball.”

Whitehall’s undoing came at the free throw line. As a team, they shot 7 of 21 from the charity stripe during regulation.

While the K-Kids moved on to the conference finals at the PPL Center, the Zephyrs can turn their attention to district. Whitehall will be the seventh seed in the 6A classification and will get PM West as their quarterfinal opponent.

Scholl spoke highly of his alma mater’s chances in the playoffs, “They’re going into districts and despite this loss, they played incredibly hard tonight. So they’re a team that nobody wants to play and now they’ve got 2 weeks to prepare.”

NHS 4 15 12 15 11 - 57

WHS 12 14 13 7 0 - 46

Northampton scoring: Noah Walakovits 16, Ethan Raphun 13, Jake Raysely 11, Leo Regec 6, Brady Simock 6, Marcus Ramos 3, Korbin Sollars 2

Whitehall scoring: Jack Lloyd 11, Seth Hoderewski 10, Cole Rozycki 10, Tanner Dogmanits 9, Talon Dogmanits 4, Cole Richards 2