Sometimes it’s necessary to throw the playbook out the window.

During one final timeout with the score tied and just :12.8 left on the clock in regulation, Northwestern Lehigh coach Cory Cesare set up a play to get what he hoped would result in a game-winning shot.

When the buzzer sounded, Cesare had gotten his game-winner, but it was not the play that he drew up for his team.

The good news for Northwestern (7-7 overall, 7-5 Colonial League) was that Cade Christopher pulled down an offensive rebound. The bad news was that while he was in a good spot on the court to shoot, his back was toward the basket. With no other option, he put a shot up over his shoulder as he fell away from the basket and when he could finally see the hoop, he was able to witness the ball stretching the nylon to give the Tigers a 41-39 win.

“I just had a feeling where the net was,” said Christopher, who finished with 17 points. “I knew we had little time left, so I just had to put up a shot, and luckily it went in.”

The basket capped a back-and-forth contest that saw the momentum shift from one side to the other throughout the game.

Northwestern fell behind early, only to rally back and lead 17-13 at the half.

The Tigers team that emerged from the locker room to start the third quarter looked nothing like the one on the court in the first half. Northwestern Lehigh turned the ball over six times in the early going, and not only lost the lead when Hunter Bleam drove the lane on back-to-back possessions, but found itself trailing by nine points in the final minute of the quarter.

“When you have two freshmen playing and handling the ball, those things (turnovers) are going to happen, but we hung in there and we dealt with the mistakes, and in the fourth quarter we executed and got it done,” Cesare said about the turnover woes to open the second half.

Christopher hit a couple early baskets in the final quarter, and Ethan Lazarus was fouled on his way to another Northwestern basket. The senior then hit the foul shot to cut the Falcons lead to just three with 5:07 left in the contest.

“We have three great seniors, and they picked us up. We knew we had to play better, and it happened for us to get the W today,” said Christopher.

Salisbury (8-6, 7-4) stretched its lead back to seven before Northwestern Lehigh went on a 10-0 run and looked to have the game in hand until Kyle Artis broke the scoring drought for the Falcons by nailing a three-pointer with just :17 left on the clock.

But Cesare used his final timeout, the Tigers went back on the court, and Christopher unleashed his game-winning heroics.

The win snapped a four-game losing streak for Northwestern, which had also lost six times in its previous eight games - a stretch that started with a 45-29 loss to the Falcons earlier this month.

With just eight regular season games left - six of them in Colonial League play - Christopher thinks the win will prepare his team for the stretch run, and propel it into the league tournament.

“We talked with each other during that streak, and we knew we weren’t playing like ourselves,” Christopher said. “We just had to keep on working and put in the work at practice, and it showed off today.

“Now, we just have to keep getting better, because we definitely have the ability to get hot and win a bunch of games if we play like a team.”

PLAYOFF RACE ... Southern Lehigh (13-0), Wilson (9-1) and Notre Dame-Green Pond (9-1) appear to be locked in as the top three seeds in the six-team field that will make the league playoffs. From there, four teams are fighting for the final three spots with Palmerton (9-4), Salisbury (7-4), Northwestern Lehigh (7-5) and Bangor (6-5) stacked tightly together. The Tigers host Palmerton next Thursday, but have finished their season series with both Southern Lehigh and Notre Dame. Palmerton is in control of its own destiny with one game each against the three other teams jockeying for position.

ON THE LINE ... In some respects, the game came down to foul shooting. The Tigers hit eight of their nine attempts, including all five in the fourth quarter. Salisbury, meanwhile, converted just two of its seven trips to the line into points.

SALISBURY

Artis 6-1-2-14, Zellin 0-0-0-0, Lopez 4-0-0-8, Fenstermaker 2-0-0-4, Bleam 3-1-5-7, Utesch 3-0-0-6, Day 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 18-2-7-39.

NORTHWESTERN

Fitch 2-0-0-6, Christopher 7-3-3-17, Mauro 0-0-0-0, Nelson 0-1-2-1, Lazarus 2-4-4-8, Heilman 1-0-0-2, Witkowski 3-0-0-7. TOTALS: 15-8-9-41.

Salisbury 7 6 18 8 - 39

Northwestern 8 9 6 18 - 41

Three-pointers: Salisbury - Artis 1; Northwestern - Fitch 2, Witkowski 1.