After a disappointing start for Palmerton Friday night, Mike Stasko and the Blue Bombers "flexed their muscles" in the second half.

Stasko provided a spark off the bench to help his team rebound from an early 15-point deficit. Then, with the score tied late in the fourth quarter, the junior drilled a crucial three-pointer and hit a driving layup to help lift Palmerton to a 58-52 comeback win over rival Northern Lehigh."Spencer (Hay) has been good all year scoring, but we've been struggling with other people scoring," Stasko said. "I just tried to step up, help him out and provide some points for us. I tried to use my quickness and take it to the basket and see what happens.""People feed off his energy," said Blue Bomber head coach Leigh Keenan, whose team snapped a three-game losing streak. "He likes to flex after he scores and that gets people going. Sometimes we struggle to score and when we score and show emotion, people feed off that. We kind of made a run and I have to give a lot of credit to Mike."It was the Bulldogs, though, who made the game's first run.With a big crowd in attendance to celebrate the school's Ring of Honor ceremony, Northern Lehigh (1-12; 0-9) came out on fire from the perimeter. Three-pointers from Evan Meixsell, Joe Egan, David Shupp and Hasan Mujovic allowed the host team to jump out to a 20-9 advantage.Three more treys - from Meixsell, Egan and Preston Kemery - early in the second frame pushed the lead to 29-14, and the Bulldogs looked like they were well on their way to snapping their 10-game losing skid."We played well and made shots early on," Nolehi mentor Jeff Miller said. "We've had good shots at times, but we just haven't made them. Tonight we were making them. Our intensity on the defensive end was what I was most happy with. That was a big part (of gaining the lead).Trying to maintain that through the whole game is what we wanted to do."Unfortunately Spencer Hay took over in the fourth quarter and we also had some costly turnovers and that was the game ... We don't have size but we're a scrappy bunch. What we wanted to do is make it uncomfortable for him. We wanted to force someone else to beat us. Stasko hit a big three for them, plus he put his head down and went to the bucket. That was the difference as well."Stasko's three drives in the third quarter helped the visitors whittle a 12-point margin to 39-34. Hay followed with a tough jumper, and his follow-up early in the final period gave the Bombers (5-7; 3-5) their first lead at 42-41.The two rivals battled back-and-forth throughout the frame and were knotted at 50-50 with 2:14 to play. That's when Stasko drained his clutch three-pointer."Coach was telling us during the timeout that other scorers needed to look to shoot," said Stasko, who finished with a season-high 16 points. "I told him I'm going to shoot it and make it the next time I get the ball. Fortunately I made it."Hay ended the contest with a game-high 20 points. For Nolehi, Egan finished with 16 points while Meixsell added 12.FEW FOULS ... Only six fouls were called in the first half, four of them by Northern Lehigh. Palmerton was whistled for only five fouls in the whole game, which contributed to the Bulldogs not shooting a free throw the entire evening.THREES FOR EVERYONE ... Northern Lehigh played six players in the contest, and all six had at least one three-pointer. The Bombers had four different players hit threes.JV WINNER ... The Bulldogs earned a 48-36 victory in the JV contest. Brandon Hess led Nolehi with 15 points while Gio Colon added 13. Palmerton was led by Eric Baumgardt's 10 points.PALMERTONHay 8-3-6-20, Svetik 3-0-0-7, Yaindl 0-0-0-0, Suto 2-0-0-5, Perschy 0-0-2-0, Andress 1-0-0-2, Stasko 7-1-1-16, Stahler 3-2-4-8. TOTALS: 24-6-13-58.NORTHERN LEHIGHMeixsell 5-0-0-12, Egan 7-0-0-16, Shupp 4-0-0-9, Hess 1-0-0-3, P. Kemery 2-0-0-5, Mujovic 3-0-0-7. TOTALS: 22-0-0-52.Palmerton 9 16 13 20 - 58No. Lehigh 20 15 6 11 - 52Three-pointers: P - Hay 1, Svetik 1, Suto 1, Stasko 1; NL- Meixsell 2, Egan 2, Shupp 1, Hess 1, P. Kemery 1, Mujovic 1.