With the playoffs looming in the near future, both Catasauqua and Northern Lehigh entered the contest with plenty on the line. The story on the night was the Roughies defense along with the tentative nature of the 'Dawgs offense that eventually spelled a 44-36 Colonial League win for Catasauqua.

Both teams came into the late-season match-up needing a "W" in order to qualify for the Colonial League playoffs. However, it was the Rough Riders that made the plays down the stretch and most importantly limited their turnovers in the second half to come away with the victory."We got the ball (in their zone), where we needed to," Northern Lehigh head coach Jeff Miller mentioned. "Once we did that, though, I feel like we got a little hesitant and stopped taking it to them."Time and time again, the Bulldogs would get the pass to the center of the defense, but failed to capitalize from that point on.Meanwhile, the victors' Kevin Bond stepped up huge by consistently hitting his jumpers and keeping his squad within contention."We know that Kevin can shoot and we told them that if they're feeling it, to take that jumper and thank God, Kevin was hitting them tonight," Catasauqua head coach Eric Snyder admitted after the game.In fact, Bond stepped up on the offensive end for the hosts, when his team needed him the most. In both the first and third frames, Bond nailed seven points, accounting for 14 of the 22 points that his team scored in that span.In the first half, both sides battled evenly, as Catty took a 13-8 lead after one quarter. The Bulldogs then showed resiliency outscoring Catty 14-8 in the second quarter, holding a one-point advantage at intermission.In fact, there were five ties and ten lead changes throughout the course of the game, before Catty took the lead for good, early on in the final session. After Aaron Hofmann found Josh Landsberger for a lay-up to tie the game, Dakota Schiffer rattled off five straight points and a Purrone drive gave the winners the lead for good.Both teams will take on their final opponents of the season on Friday, as Catty travels to Northwestern, while Northern Lehigh plays host to Palmerton."The kids certainly knew what was on the line tonight, and it hurts, losing," coach Miller added. "But we need to go back to work at practice and get ready for Palmerton Friday."In the game, Bond led all scorers with his 18 points, while teammate Davey Wetherhold scored 11, helping Catty improve to 14-7 overall and 11-4 in the league.For the 'Dawgs (12-9, 9-6 CL), who were playing without regular starter Joe Egan, brother Matt Egan scored 10, while Landsberger added nine points, 13 rebounds, four assists and three blocks.Catasauqua prevailed in the JV game, as well, 65-39 for the sweep on the evening.NORTHERN LEHIGHM. Egan 4-2-2-10, Dibilio 1-0-0-3, Taylor 3-0-0-8, Hofmann 3-0-0-6, Landsberger 4-1-2-9. TOTALS: 15-3-4-36.CATASAUQUAMarshall 1-1-2-3, Wetherhold 4-3-4-11, Schiffer 2-0-0-5, Klobosits 0-0-0-0, Purrone 3-1-2-7, D. Bond 0-0-1-0, K. Bond 7-2-2-18. TOTALS: 17-7-11-44.No. Lehigh 8 14 6 8 - 36Catasauqua 13 8 9 14 - 44Three pointers: NL - Taylor 2, Dibilio 1; C - K. Bond 2, Schiffer 1.