Northwestern Lehigh moved to the doorstep of tits second straight Colonial League championship with a pair of opening wins in the league tournament.

The wins came in very different ways.

The quarterfinals saw the Tigers lead through most of the game, while in the semis they needed a wild comeback after trailing by 13 point.

Wilson (12-11) had to play on Northwestern’s home court in the quarterfinals and found it to be a tough venue. Northwestern (19-5) slowly pulled ahead throughout the first half before its defense lowered the boom on the Warriors and held them to just eight points in the third quarter as a 32-26 halftime lead turned into a 51-34 lead after the third quarter for Northwestern.

Four Tigers players finished in double digits in scoring with Brady Krimmel leading the way with 19 points. Cannon Fitch finished with 13 and Mason Bollinger and Malachi Coleman both had 12 points as the Tigers put away Wilson in a 65-50 win.

“We usually start slow, but we never hang our heads because we know we can come back,” said Coleman after a 56-51 semifinal win over Salisbury Tuesday night at Whitehall High School.

Coleman’s assessment of the game was spot-on as the Tigers fell behind 8-0 and trailed throughout the first half.

The Tigers used their defensive domination to erase a 12-point deficit and grab their first lead of the game.

“We started out slow,” said Krimmel, who scored 14 points in the game. “And they went on an 8-0 run, and we went into the half down by 10, but we came out in the third quarter doing what we need to do. We went on a run and that set the tone for the rest of the game.”

Northwestern trailed by 11 early in the second quarter when Coleman hit his second three-pointer of the night After Mason Bollinger scored, Coleman knocked down another three to make it a one possession game at 18-15. After a time-out, Salisbury’s intensity was back up and they pushed Northwestern back down to take a 30-20 lead going into the break.

“I had the hot hand, but it was really the defense that got us through the whole game,” said Coleman, who hit four three-pointers on his way to 21 points. “It was that second half where we really picked it up that made the difference.”

Salisbury came out of the locker room looking to throw a knockout punch and took a 39-27 lead midway through the third quarter.

The Northwestern defense closed in on the Falcons’ shooters and Northwestern battled back.

Much of the turnaround came at the foul line as the same team that went 0-for-5 from the line in the first half, poured in 13-of-14 foul shots in the second half. Four of them came in a 1:05 span in the third quarter and were bookended by a pair of buckets by Krimmel. When the quarter ended, Northwestern had closed the deficit to 39-35.

Just as Salisbury’s time-out earlier in the game reignited the Falcons, Northwestern coach Pat Wanamaker did the same with his team on the sideline between the final two quarters.

“It’s hard to not get emotionally invested in a game as the coach when your kids are as emotionally invested as they were,” said Wanamaker. “It wouldn’t be fair of me to give less than 100-percent knowing full well those guys are giving us a hundred percent every time they’re on the floor, so sometimes it boils over a little bit.”

Brady Zimmerman opened the fourth quarter with a three-point shot. Coleman grabbed an offensive rebound and put a shot right back up to give the Tigers their first lead at 40-39.

After a 17-2 run, Northwestern had tilted the scoreboard in its favor and did not fall behind again.

“Last year we had three tremendous starting seniors who did a lot for us, and a lot of people didn’t think we would make it back this far,” said Krimmel. “To make it back this far with these guys is just great.”

The win sets up a Colonial League finals rematch with Catasauqua (19-5) Friday night at Freedom High School. Northwestern won the matchup last season and beat the Rough Riders 65-47 in the second game of the regular season this year. The back-to-back titles would be the first in the history of the Northwestern program. Catasauqua came in as the fourth seed and knocked off top seed Notre Dame – Green Pond in the other semifinal game. Northwestern’s win was also an upset as they went from being a three seed to beating the number two seed in the league.