Four minutes left in the game with an 18-point lead should have a team feeling confident.

However, Northwestern head coach Billy Hallman tried to warn his players that there was still work to be done.A furious Palmerton rally challenged the Tigers; however, it seemed to be 'too little too late,' as Northwestern hung on for a 53-42 Colonial League win."With four minutes left, I saw our lead and I told the kids, 'The game's not over. That's still a lot of time," Hallman said. "We knew Palmerton was going come out and play until the end. Unfortunately, when we get pressured, we feel we need to rush, instead of slowing down and taking care of the ball."From that point, the Blue Bombers incorporated a press that yielded four turnovers, some easy buckets, and produced a 14-2 run, including nine from Nate Dougherty.Palmerton's Justin Hosier dropped a triple to make it 48-42 with 1:07 remaining."I gotta give them a lot of credit, man," Hallman said. "They don't give up and Dougherty is a tough player, tough to guard."In the final 67 ticks, Palmerton was forced to foul, and the Tigers iced the victory, going 5-for-6 at the line.With the win, Northwestern (7-11) remains alive to finish its regular season with a .500 record. It would need wins in the final four games to produce an 11-11 mark."With three games next week, we would need to win out, because even if we get three out of four, I don't think our ranking would be high enough," Hallman said.For the Blue Bombers, that elusive second win slipped through the cracks again. A slow start and a dismal shooting performance in the first half allowed the victors to grab a commanding lead. The Bombers shot 21 percent (5-21) from the field in the first half, and committed eight of their nine total turnovers in the first 16 minutes. In the first period, there was a 5:21 dry spell, which allowed the Tigers to go on a 7-0 run."We didn't play with enough energy or passion in the first half," Palmerton head coach Ken Termini said. "To credit Northwestern, their match-up zone and switching defenses had something to do with that."With four games remaining, Termini hopes to see some strong efforts down the stretch."We talked after the game about being able to fuel that passion from within," Termini said. "Whether it's sports, your job, school, your hobbies, whatever, to be successful, they need to generate that passion themselves, without an external stimulus."The Tigers dominated on the glass with a 37-26 edge, and had a strong night from the floor, connecting on 20-of-46 attempts (43 percent) to take the win.An integral 11-0 run in the fourth set up that previously mentioned 18-point lead, as Rob Seyfried scored five and Trevor Cunningham added four during the stretch. The spurt turned a 35-28 lead into the 46-28 swell, proving to be crucial.LET'S GET TECHNICAL ... The emotions were high on both sides of the ball in the late stages of the game, as Palmerton received two late technical fouls called on them. The punishment yielded the winners three points, but sparked the Blue Bomber late run."PTP-ERS" ... Leading scorers on the night were Rob Seyfried with 16 points, Cunningham with 13, and Sam Yadush with 12. Dougherty (18) and Hosier (10) topped the Bombers.TAKE A BOW ... Preceding the varsity contest, Palmerton rounded out their Centennial Season tributes with a trip down memory lane, as each District 11 championship team was mentioned. Several former players and coaches from those teams were in attendance.NORTHWESTERNKemmerer 0-0-0-0, Cunningham 6-1-4-13, Hippinsteel 0-0-0-0, Yadush 3-6-6-12, Freeman 0-0-0-0, Bollinger 3-0-0-6, S. Seyfried 2-0-0-4, Hallman 1-0-2-2, R. Seyfried 5-6-13-16. TOTALS: 20-13-25-53.PALMERTONYacone 2-0-0-4, Dougherty 6-4-4-18, Baumgardt 2-2-2-6, Suto 1-0-0-2, Hosier 3-2-2-10, Yaindl 0-0-0-0, Silfies 0-0-0-0, Taschler 0-0-0-0, King 1-0-0-2. TOTALS: 15-8-8-42.N'western 11 12 12 18 - 53Palmerton 6 8 11 17 - 42Three pointers: Northwestern - None; Palmerton - Hosier 2, Dougherty 2.