Patrick Wanamaker knows his Northern Lehigh team has plenty of work to do over the next few days.

But that’s a good thing. Because it means they’re actually playing games.

Despite suffering a 65-32 defeat to Colonial League foe Salisbury Friday night in the Bulldogs’ home opener, just the fact his team was on the floor is a blessing.

“Getting a chance to play is a bonus, above everything else,” said Wanamaker, who is in his first year at the helm at Northern Lehigh. “I thought when we had our shutdown Dec. 9 that we were done ... But getting a chance to get on the floor and compete is great for the kids. They’ve been through more than 17-year-olds should ever go through.”

With just five practices before opening their season Thursday, and then having to play on back-to-back nights, it’s not hard to imagine that the Bulldogs (0-2; 0-2) might go through some rough patches.

But when that rough patch is the start of the game, it can obviously be deflating.

“You have to control the basketball, and against good teams it hurts you immediately,” said Wanamaker, whose team turned the ball over five times in their first six possessions and eventually trailed 16-4 at the end of the first quarter. “That’s not going to get the job done against anybody, especially a quality opponent like Salisbury.

“But the kids responded ... that’s all I can ask for. The kids are responding, they’re playing hard, they’re working their tails off day in and day out. They’ve given me everything they have ... But ultimately, we have to get better. We have to clean up a little bit, and we need to not come out sluggish and shoot ourselves in the foot so early in the game.”

The Falcons knocked down four three-pointers from four differennt players in that opening frame to build their double-digit lead.

But like Wanamaker said, Northern Lehigh did offer a response.

Ardit Mujovic and Mike Repsher opened the second period with driving baskets, and buckets from Jaden Marlatt and Aiden Parvel a few minutes later closed the gap to 20-13.

“I thought Jaden Marlatt gave us great minutes offensively and then in that second quarter I thought Mike Repsher came off the bench and did a lot of really good things at the defensive end of the floor,” said Wanamaker. “Back-to-backs are tough. Everybody did some good things, but those two kind of gave us a spark in that second quarter when we worked ourselves back into it.”

Quintin Stephens, however, used his size and strength to drive inside for three field goals after that to help Salisbury push the advantage to 31-17 by halftime.

Stephens added four more points in the third quarter and finished with a game-high 15, while Quinn Warmkessel hit for five points in the third and ended with 11. Their output after the intermission helped the Falcons put the game out of reach, extending the margin to 20 points.

“They’ve been around for a few years,” said Wanamaker of Stephens and Warmkessel. “We know what they bring. We’ve been trying to stop them for a handful of years. But they’re big and strong and physical and well-coached and that’s a pretty lethal combination. They wore us down a little bit in the second half and we struggled offensively, but we’ll get back at it (Saturday) morning (at practice) and see where we’re at come Tuesday against Saucon.”

BEHIND THE LINE ... Salisbury shot 8-of-18 from three-point range, while the Bulldogs managed just 1-of-7.

TOP BULLDOGS ... Marlatt, who has a nice mid-range shot, finished with a team-high 11 points for Northern Lehigh, while DeSean Smith added seven.

SALISBURY

Artis 3-0-0-8, McKenzie 2-0-1-5, Scialla 2-0-0-5, Lopez 3-2-2-8, Stephens 6-2-2-15, Fenstermaker 4-0-0-11, Reihman 0-0-0-0, Herrera 1-0-0-2, Warmkessel 5-1-2-11, Utesch 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 26-5-7-65.

NORTHERN LEHIGH

Mujovic 2-0-0-4, Parvel 2-0-0-4, Zambo 0-0-0-0, Smith 2-2-4-7, Herzog 0-0-0-0, Blose 0-0-0-0, Wisocky 0-0-0-0, Marlatt 5-1-3-11, Wilk 1-0-0-2, Repsher 1-2-5-4. TOTALS: 13-5-12-32.

Salisbury 16 15 11 23 - 65

No. Lehigh 4 13 5 10 - 32

Three-pointers: Salisbury - Fenstermaker 3, Artis 2, McKenzie 1, Scialla 1, Stephens 1; No. Lehigh - Smith 1.