Lehighton has faced a number of late deficits this season.

And in many of those situations, the Indians have succumbed to the moment and failed to rally down the stretch.

On Wednesday night, Trevor Miller’s club once again trailed in the closing minutes. But instead of crumbling under the pressure, his team came back to pull out a 49-48 non-league overtime victory over Northwestern.

“Sometimes we panic a little bit when we get down, but tonight we didn’t do that at all,” said Miller. “We were down (nine) with (just over a minute) to go. We kind of collectively all brought it back together. We just said to chip away, chip away, chip away, and that’s what we did.

“I thought we did a good job of finding open shots. Zach (Hunsicker) hit some shots that were big down the stretch to get us right back in it. Fortunately, we got defensive rebounds, especially off the foul shots. Those were kind of a big key. We kind of got momentum and rode that right into overtime.”

After the Tigers’ Deven Bollinger scored with 1:23 left in the fourth quarter, the visitors went up 41-32.

But Ethan Lutz nailed a three-pointer to cut the gap, and after a missed Northwestern free throw, Hunsicker connected from the wing to trim the margin to three with 48 seconds to play in regulation.

Following a made foul shot by the Tigers (10-9), Hunsicker deposited another trey to whittle the lead to one with 30 ticks remaining on the clock.

Once again, Lehighton (8-11) put its opponent on the line, and once again the Tigers made just 1-of-2. The Tribe’s Richard Yturrino got in the lane and converted to tie the game and force overtime.

“Hunsicker’s a tough player,” said Northwestern mentor Billy Hallman. “We made him work hard, but give credit to him. He made some tough shots.

“In the fourth quarter, we didn’t make our free throws. Those were big. But Lehighton battled. Their kids didn’t give up. They fought back in the second half.”

Hunsicker — who finished with a season-high 21 points — came up big again in the extra period. His inside bucket put the Indians ahead 47-46 at the 1:34 mark. The Tigers went back on top on a Nick Henry basket, but Hunsicker got fouled after grabbing a rebound off his own missed shot and hit both free throws with 7.7 seconds to play.

Henry’s driving shot was then off the mark as time expired to clinch the Indians’ win.

“I was thinking I’ve just got to hit these,” said Hunsicker of his free throws. “At halftime, coach came in and just told us that we have to come out and keep playing our game, work hard, crash the boards, run through the offense and be patient. And we did what we had to do.”

“Zach’s a real streaky shooter, and when he’s on he’s tough, because how are you going to guard him?” said Miller. “Are you going to guard him out at the three-point line, or are you guarding him in the post? He was able to do a little bit of both tonight.”

SPOILER ... Lehighton’s victory ruined Northwestern’s chance of clinching a district playoff berth. “Yeah, this one hurts a little,” said Hallman. “This was big, because it would have given us our 11th win of the year ... so it does kind of sting. But we get to come back and play another game (Thursday against Pen Argyl) and forget about this one.”

FIRST HALF ... The Tigers led by a 23-14 margin at intermission thanks to four three-pointers, two each by Sean McCann and Vinnie Castrine.

LEADERS ... Besides Hunsicker, Jack Lorenz and Yturrino both added 10 points. Northwestern received 15 from Bollinger and 11 from McCann.

DEFENSE ... Lehighton’s trapping defense in the half court gave the Tigers some trouble. “I thought our 1-3-1 was really effective,” said Miller. “It’s not necessarily getting steals, but it’s just slowing them down a little bit. I thought we really did a good job, because they’re a high-powered offense.”

EARLY GAME ... The Tigers won the JV contest, 70-52, behind 24 points from Cayden Fitch. Lehighton was led by Tyler Rehrig’s 20 points.

NORTHWESTERN

Hebelka 0-0-0-0, Fitch 0-0-0-0, Bollinger 6-3-5-15, McCann 3-2-2-11, Castrine 2-1-2-7, Henry 2-2-5-6, Hallman 2-3-3-7, Pleban 1-0-0-2, Zack 0-0-2-0. TOTALS: 16-11-19-48.

LEHIGHTON

Hunsicker 8-2-2-21, Lorenz 4-0-0-10, Beatty 0-0-0-0, Costenbader 1-0-0-3, Yturrino 5-0-2-10, E. Lutz 1-0-1-3, Schatz 1-0-1-2. TOTALS: 20-2-6-49.

N’western 15 8 7 13 5 - 48

Lehighton 11 3 12 17 6 - 49

Three-pointers: NW - McCann 3, Castrine 2; Lehighton - Hunsicker 3, Lorenz 2, Costenbader 1, Lutz 1.