To come into a high school basketball game with 976 career points can be tough.

Knowing you need a pretty big game to score 24 points and reach a milestone can be nerve-wracking, but you want to get it over and done with.

For Palmerton’s Brayden Hosier, it took a while for him to get rolling Friday night, but once he did, the senior soared right past the 1,000 mark and finished the evening with 1,007 to lead his team to a 63-50 victory over Northwestern - the Blue Bombers’ sixth straight league win to start the season.

Palmerton coach Ken Termini could tell that Hosier was out of sync early in the game, and pulled him out of the game to take a couple deep breaths and refocus.

The Tigers took an early seven-point lead before Hosier hit his first three-pointer of the night with 4:46 left in the first quarter. He went on to finish the period with eight points, but was held scoreless in the second frame until the clock hit the 2:00 mark.

That was the moment Hosier was officially back for Palmerton (6-1, 6-0). He planted himself between the arc and the sideline on the left side of the court and started firing. Before time ran out, he hit three three-pointers from the same spot and there simply was no way of stopping him.

“There were definitely some nerves because everybody had been coming up to me and asking me about it, and wishing me luck. Then, the fact that it was against Northwestern - which is always a big game - and it was crazy in here just made it worse, so there were some nerves to start,” admitted Hosier.

“Sometimes when you get locked in like that, you’re not really even thinking about making the shot, you just get the ball and put it up. It’s a weird feeling but you know you’re doing good when you feel like that.”

Northwestern’s Gavin Nelson had 13 first-half points, but his team trailed 26-21 at the break.

The Tigers had been down by as many as eight midway through the second quarter, but battled back to tie the game on a drive to the basket by Eli Zimmerman, who was also fouled on the trip, late in the third. The foul shot put Northwestern up 32-31 and it quickly made it 34-31.

Perhaps that’s what triggered something in Hosier, because it was just after that when he sank three shots in a row to give him 17 points, and his team an eight-point lead by the time the quarter ended.

“Our guys played well tonight,” said Termini. “We started a little slowly, but we found our way and were able to keep them close until we could really get Brayden and Matt (Machalik, 14 points) going.”

Northwestern (3-2 overall, 2-1 Colonial) poked the bear again when it tried to climb back into the game, and Hosier went back to that same spot and started firing. When he hit his seventh three-pointer, he suddenly had 1,001 career points and the Bombers had a 13-point lead.

Hosier limited his shooting from within the arc from there on, but was still on fire, picking up another six points.

Nelson had a strong game for Northwestern, finishing with 25 points.

“It was one of those nights where we couldn’t get things going. We only scored back-to-back baskets twice,” said Tigers head coach Pat Wanamaker of his team’s play. “Overall, we are playing well, just some things we need to clean up and do better, but it’s a good start.”

GET OVER IT! ... Northwestern has no time to lament the loss, and will be back on the court Saturday in a midday game against Salisbury. Like the game against Palmerton, the Saturday contest was postponed from earlier in the season when much of the Northwestern team was still playing football.

PALMERTON

Machalik 6-2-2-14, Grammes 2-0-06, Leister 1-0-1-2, Hosier 11-2-4-31, T. Stahler 0-0-0-0, L. Anthony 3-2-4-8, Serfass 0-0-0-0, Pengelly 0-0-0-0 , Z. Anthony 1-0-1-2. Totals: 24-6-12-63.

NORTHWESTERN LEHIGH

Bollinger 2-0-0-4, E. Zimmerman 3-1-1-7, Kozlowski 1-4-4-6, Nelson 9-7-10-25, Marth 1-0-0-2, Hite 0-0-0-0, Fitch 1-0-0-2, Wambold 1-1-2-4. Totals: 18-13-17-50.

Palmerton 15 11 16 21 - 63

N’western 13 8 13 16 - 50

Three-pointers: Palmerton - Hosier 7, Grammes 2; Northwestern - Wambold 1.