Nazareth showed from the start of Monday’s East Penn Conference boys basketball semifinal that it wouldn’t go down easily.

After taking an early lead, the Blue Eagles trailed for most of the game until Parkland finished them off in the finals minutes to win 50-46 and advance to Thursday’s title game.

“In the second quarter we started hitting shots,” said Blake Nassry, who led Parkland with a game-high 19 points. “We needed to step up our defense in the second half and I think we did. And then in that fourth quarter we closed it out.”

The Trojans lead was just 47-46 after Nazareth’s Blake Nagurney hit a three pointer with just over a minute to go. They pushed it to a two-point margin on a Nassry foul shot with under a minute to play.

A Ryan Kearney deflection on Nazareth’s next possession caused a turnover and the Trojans sealed the game at the free-throw line.

“When you have a tough battle like this it comes down to 50-50 balls,” said Parkland head coach Eddie Ohlson. “It comes down to deflections. It comes down to rebounds. A lot of times it isn’t shots.”

The Eagles, which were the No. 5 seed in the league tournament and beat Allen in the first round, went 7-for-12 from the floor and 3-for-5 from beyond the arc in the first quarter. A Gavin Kershner three-pointer to start the second put them ahead by double digits for the first time, 19-8.

But the Trojans turned things around.

A three-point play from Tyler Beck and a three-point shot from Nassry made it 19-14 and started 16-3 run that put the Trojans in the lead, 24-22 with over a minute left in the first half.

The run was highlighted by Jude Ruisch converting a four-point play after getting fouled on a made three-pointer.

Nazareth knotted the score on a couple free throws before halftime.

“They were hitting tough shots,” said Ohlson. “We started the game slow, which was not by design. We fought back. I was glad we got it to 24-24 at half.”

The teams traded leads four times in the third quarter. A Nassim Adams three-pointer with 1:44 left in the quarter gave Parkland its biggest lead of the second half at 35-31.

Nazareth refused to go away, taking a 41-40 lead on a Logan Hahn three-pointer with 4:06 left in the game.

Nassry answered with a three-point play, and a pair of free throws from TJ Lawrence built the lead back up to 45-41.

Parkland went 17-for-24 at the free-throw line in the game and was 11-for-14 in the fourth quarter.

Ruisch scored 10 points to go along with five rebounds and a pair of assists in the game, while Adams had nine points and Beck added six.

Hahn (12 points), Kershner (11) and Nagurney (10) led Nazareth.

Parkland will meet No. 2 seed and defending league champ Northampton in Thursday’s finals at the PPL Center.

The Trojans beat the Konkrete Kids 42-37 in a regular season game on Dec. 16.

Northampton beat Whitehall 57-46 in the opening round last Friday and topped Liberty 34-25 Tuesday at the PPL Center.

Nassry said the regular season win over Northampton was helpful, but doesn’t mean much when it comes to Thursday’s game.

“It’s different in playoffs,” he said. “They won the EPC Championship last year. We know they’re going to be excited to play us. We’re excited to play them and we’re going to give them our best game.”

Parkland beat No. 8 seed Central Catholic in the first round of the league playoffs last Friday, 74-37, with four Trojans scoring in double figures.

Nassry led the way with 15 points. Ruisch and Kearney had 14 points each and Beck added 13 points.