With 6:40 left in the third period, Northwestern’s Shane Marth scored off an offensive rebound to put his team within a point of Palmerton.

But it was all Bombers after that.

Palmerton responded to Marth’s basket with a torrid 18-0 run to blow open a close game and cruised to a 68-52 Colonial League victory on Thursday night.

During the game-changing run, the Bombers (10-6) attacked the basket relentlessly.

Matt Machalik - who led all players with a game-high 26 points - scored on two driving layups, a jumper in the lane, and a three-pointer; Jacob Grammes added a three-pointer and put back from underneath; Brayden Hosier scored a layup; and Aiden Leister was credited with a basket on a goal-tending call.

Meanwhile, the Tigers missed 17 consecutive shots, and didn’t score another basket from the floor until Gavin Nelson’s lay up with 3:30 left to play.

“We were forcing shots, but when we did have good looks, they just didn’t go down,” Northwestern coach Pat Wannamaker said. “Give Palmerton credit. They earned the win.”

The first half was played with both teams running their engines on high octane.

Grammes drilled a three off the tip. Mason Bollinger’s putback at 6:45 gave the Tigers their first lead of the game. Threes by Grammes and Hosier put Palmerton ahead 19-14 at the close of the first eight minutes.

The Tigers (11-6) dominated the boards early on, but the trio of Machalik, Grammes and Hosier lifted the Bombers to a five-point advantage at 38-33 at the intermission.

What looked like a close game that would go down to the wire was completely squashed by the Bombers’ big third period run.

Palmerton eventually built a 20-point lead early in the fourth when Machalik made another lay up, On the other end of the court, the Bombers executed a suffocating man-to-man defense that caused turnovers and limited Northwestern to one-and-done on most of its field-goal attempts.

Palmerton’s interim head coach Joe Egan - who was coaching his first game after the resignation of varsity coach Ken Termini on Thursday morning - told his team before the game to turn the page and start a new chapter.

“We had a really good practice yesterday,” Egan said. “Today, I just told them to go out and have fun.

When asked if he was a little nervous coaching his first varsity game, Egan said that he felt just fine once the game had begun. He praised his senior group for taking control of the game.

“Our senior leadership is outstanding,” he said. Once things got tight, they took it upon themselves to take a one-point game to another level.”

The loss didn’t deter Wannamaker from telling his team after the game to bounce back in the next game and commit themselves to finishing the season strong.

“We still have goals to reach,” he said. “One is to play for the league title, and another is to be playing our best basketball when the districts begin.”

POSTGAME ... Egan was rewarded for his first win with a water bucket bath and a presentation of the game ball.

TOP SCORERS ... Following Machalik’s 26 points for Palmerton was Hosier with 17. Gavin Nelson paced the Tigers with 17 points, with Marth adding 15.

FINE FROM THE LINE … Despite Northwestern’s poor shooting percentage from the floor, the Tigers were good from the free throw line, making 13 of 15 attempts.

BACK ON TRACK … With the win, the Bombers snapped a two-game losing streak.

GET OUT THE BROOM … Palmerton swept the home-and-home two-game series with Northwestern. The Bombers won the first matchup in December by a score of 63-50.

NORTHWESTERN

Nelson 6-5-6-17, Marth 5-3-3-15, Hite 2-0-0-6, Bollinger 3-0-0-6, Wambold 1-2-2-5, Kozlowski 0-2-2-2, Tyler 0-1-2-1, E. Zimmerman 0-0-0-0, Fitch 0-0-0-0, Leh 0-0-0-0, Krimmel 0-0-0-0, Miller 0-0-0-0, Fitzgerald 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 17-13-15-52.

PALMERTON

Machalik 10-5-8-26, Hosier 6-3-4-17, Jac. Grammes 5-0-0-13, T. Stahler 1-1-2-4, Serfass 1-0-1-3, Leister 1-1-2-3, Carrelli 0-0-0-0, Pengelly 0-0-0-0, George 0-0-0-0, L. Anthony 1-0-0-2. TOTALS: 25-10-17-68.

Northwestern 14 19 6 12 - 52

Palmerton 19 19 18 12 - 68

Three-pointers; Northwestern - Hite 2, Marth 2, Wambold 1; Palmerton - Grammes 3, Hosier 2, Serfass 1, Machalik 1, Stahler 1.