ALLENTOWN - Last season, Northwestern came into districts as a heavy underdog against Bethlehem Catholic and nearly pulled off an upset before losing by just five points.

This season, the Tigers were again on the tough end of the seeding, facing No. 2 Allentown Central Catholic.

Twice in Friday’s contest Northwestern fought back from big deficits, but both times the Vikings were able to right their ship and ended up beating the Tigers 76-47 in the District 11 Class 4A quarterfinals.

Right out of the gate, Central took control by scoring the first nine points. Midway through the first quarter, Mason Bollinger put the Tigers on the board. Eli Zimmerman and Cayden Fitch both hit three-point shots later in the frame, but the Vikings led 18-8.

Central would stretch its lead to 24-8 when Lucas Mushrush scored the first six points of the second quarter - including his second of four three-pointers in the game. The Tigers’ Gavin Nelson, Fitch, and Zimmerman all unloaded from beyond the arc later in the period, but the Vikings opened up a 40-19 lead by halftime.

“They’re a very good team, very athletic and have a lot of talent,” said Northwestern head coach Cory Cesare, whose team ended the season with an 11-12 record. “We knew they would be tough and they threw everything they had at us, and we weren’t able to find a way to shut them down offensively.”

Nico Pilieri - who had 10 first-half points - opened up the third quarter by driving the lane, getting to the basket and picking up a foul to put the Vikings up 43-19. Jahrel Vigo and Pilieri picked up back-to-back baskets and Central threatened to put the game into a running clock with their lead at 28.

The run spurred the Tigers to go on a run of their own as they again fired up three-point shooting. Nelson hit his second of the night and, after Shane Marth hit a little jumper from the free-throw line, Mason Bollinger sank another three to make it 47-27 with 3:41 left in the third quarter.

When the final stanza started, Northwestern trailed 54-32.

While the Vikings (18-8) took their game inside for a couple baskets, the Tigers were locked in from outside with Nelson and Zimmerman both hitting threes and Fitch dropping in a pair of treys. Eventually, Central did reach a 30-point lead and finished with a 29-point margin of victory.

“I am very proud of my guys and the way that they hung in there tonight and battled from behind a couple of times when they could have just given up,” Cesare said. “I think things look good for us down the road because of all the young guys we have.

“We lose Cayden (Fitch) next year, but he has really helped these young guys get better and I could not have asked for anymore out of him this season.”

Fitch is the only senior on a very young team that also has just one junior on the roster. Fitch hit on six three-pointers in the game for 18 points, with many of them coming from well beyond the arc. While he is disappointed with how the season ended, he also believes that the young players have better days ahead.

“We had some coaching changes to go through during my four years and that made it tough to get any consistency,” said Fitch. “We have a lot of good players who are going to be here for the next couple seasons, so they should be a pretty good team.”

TALE OF THE TAPE … Central Catholic had a definite height advantage over Northwestern. All five of the Vikings starters top the six-foot mark, while just two Tigers starters – Shane Marth (6-5) and Mason Bollinger (6-1) – hit the six-foot mark. Because of that, Northwestern stayed outside and finished with 13 three-pointers - accounting for 39 of its 47 points.

LOVE THEM FREEBIES … Central Catholic came into the game hitting 68% of its foul shots, but in its EPC championship game against Pocono Mountain West, hit on 17-of-17. It continued the trend by hitting its first five against Northwestern and finished 19-of-22 on the night.

NORTHWESTERN

Hite 0-0-0-0, Cay. Fitch 6-0-0-18, Wellings 0-0-0-0, Zimmerman 3-0-0-9, Wambold 0-0-0-0, Can. Fitch 0-0-0-0, Leh 0-0-0-0, Bollinger 3-0-0-7, Kozlowski 0-0-0-0, Nelson 4-0-1-11, Marth 1-0-2-2, Miller 0-0-0-0, Fitzgerald 0-0-0-0, Freeman 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 17-0-3-47.

CENTRAL CATHOLIC

Pilieri 4-7-7-15, Jones 7-1-2-17, Patridge 1-0-0-2, Vigo 4-1-2-9, Mushrush 5-1-1-15, Cook 0-0-0-0, Fridia 0-6-6-6, Spinosa 0-0-0-0, Csensits 0-0-0-0, Gibson 0-0-0-0, Ensley 3-0-0-7, H. Stewart-Smith 1-0-0-2, A. Stewart-Smith 0-0-0-0, Davis 0-3-4-3. TOTALS: 25-19-22-76.

Northwestern 8 11 13 15 - 47

Central Catholic 18 22 14 22 - 76

Three-pointers: Northwestern - Cay. Fitch 6, Nelson 3, Zimmerman 3, Bollinger 1; ACC - Mushrush 4, Jones 2, Ensley 1.