Most tight games coming down to the final few seconds and final play.

While that was true in Salisbury’s District 11 4A semifinal game, an argument can be made that the game was decided in the first quarter.

The teams tied each other through the final three quarters, but the 13-12 advantage that Allentown Central Catholic had in the opening eight minutes of the game made the difference as it beat the Falcons 33-32 to advance to the district finals.

Julian Makhoul has been playing some of his best basketball late in the season for the Falcons.

Makhoul, a junior, scored a game-high 11 points, including scoring Salisbury’s first five points in the game.

Grayson Schmell and Tahir Edmonson hit threes about a minute apart from each other that gave the Vikes their largest lead of the quarter at 13-8. Baskets by Steven Lozada and Drew Petrie cut the lead right back to and left that fatal one-point margin at 13-12 in favor of Central Catholic.

In the second quarter, neither team had much success shooting the ball. Shots went off the rim, the backboard, were blocked, or otherwise stayed away from the net for much of the quarter. The two teams combined to score just 10 points to enter halftime with the Vikings still holding a small margin at 18-17.

The Falcons came out the aggressor to open the third quarter with 12 unanswered points.

Steven Lozada capped the run when he pulled down a rebound and went the length of the court for a layup with 5:35 left in the quarter to give Salisbury a 24-18 lead, its largest of the game.

The Vikings battled back and led 25-24 at the end of the quarter and grew the lead to 30-24 midway through the fourth.

A Lozada three-pointer tied the game 32-32 with just 1:04 left in regulation.

“Makhoul was great again tonight,” said Weaver. “He was a defensive presence for us tonight and hit some big shots early on. The whole team really gave a great effort tonight, which has been the norm for them this season.”

The game clock wound down to :07.6 left when a whistle blew on a foul call that sent Di’Quiawn Leak to the line. Leak hit the first shot but missed the second to make it 33-32. Weaver called a timeout and with Makhoul well covered, Lozada sneaked through the defense to the basket for an attempted layup that was blocked to secure the win for Central Catholic.

“We had the right play and Steven (Lozada) got the screen and was in the right spot but their guy stepped up and made a big play,” said Weaver. “We did a great job, but their size and athleticism became a problem for us as the game went on and we couldn’t get past that.”

The loss didn’t end the season for Salisbury as it went on to play in the 4A consolation game to fight for a spot in the PIAA tournament.