Head coach Jason Weaver and the Salisbury boys basketball team were happy for the opportunity.

One day after losing to Southern Lehigh, the Falcons showed they were anxious to get back on the court..Salisbury jumped out to a big first period lead and went on to post a 70-50 Colonial League win over Palmerton."We lost by 14 at Southern Lehigh the night before and I told the guys after that game that the biggest thing was that we get the chance to play again right away and get that bad taste out of our mouths," Weaver said. "Palmerton played hard tonight, too. They can shoot the ball well, they're young, and coach Ken has them playing well right now."Jaxon Costello poured in 10 points in that opening session to spark the Falcons to a 20-6 advantage.The Bombers battled back in the second quarter to put Salisbury in foul trouble and got into the bonus with over six minutes left in the half.Palmerton's Justin Hosier and Eric Baumgardt teamed up to chip away at the deficit as eight Hosier points and four by Baumgardt made it 24-18 with 5:26 left before half."I thought we did a great job of attacking the rim in the first half," Palmerton head coach Ken Termini said. "We knew what we wanted to do against them and we were doing it."The two sides traded baskets until Joey Suto found Nate Dougherty for a layup with 2:01 left in the half to pull the Bombers within 32-27.The 6-5, 240-pound Costello used his inside advantage to quickly counter and extend the Falcon lead to nine before Hosier's pull-up jumper made it 38-31 at the break.The Bombers carried that momentum into the third quarter as back-to-back treys by Dougherty and a running jumper by Suto had Palmerton within 42-39 with 6:11 on the clock.But Salisbury (9-4 overall) went on a 18-5 run to close the third and it was 60-44 after three."I was happy with our execution in the second half and the better quality shots we got off," Weaver said. "Our guards made a concerted effort to get the ball inside and Jaxon delivered."Costello's 13 third frame points highlighted a 10-for-15 field goal showing as the Falcons took advantage of their height advantage."Even though we continued to do the same things in the second half, we didn't meet the same outcomes," Termini said. "Kudos to coach Weaver for making the necessary adjustments. We just weren't physically capable of countering."BIG MAN... Costello led Salisbury with 31 points. He also added 12 boards..BOMBER LEADERS... Nate Dougherty's 19 led Palmerton. Hosier added 14 points and eight boards.SALISBURYGalantini 0-0-0-0, Foster 0-0-0-0, Kulp 1-0-0-3, Sylvester 1-0-0-2, Reichenbach 7-0-0-15, Slutsky 5-2-2-14, Costello 13-5-5-31, Trainer 0-0-2-0, D. Snyder 0-0-0-0, Jones 1-0-0-3, Blackledge 0-0-0-0, Hernandez 0-0-0-0, S. Snyder 0-2-2-2. TOTALS: 28-9-11-70.PALMERTONYacone 1-1-2-3, Dougherty 6-4-8-19, Baumgardt 2-2-3-6, Nelson 0-0-0-0, Frace 0-1-2-1, Suto 1-1-2-3, Hosier 4-5-5-14, Yaindl 0-0-0-0, Silfies 0-0-0-0, Taschler 1-0-0-2, King 0-0-0-0, Quinn 1-0-0-2. TOTALS: 16-14-22-50.Salisbury 20 18 22 10 - 70Palmerton 6 25 13 6 - 50Three pointers: Salisbury - Slutsky 2, Jones 1, Kulp 1, Reichenbach 1; Palmerton - Dougherty 3, Hosier 1.