It’s a difficult task to contain a well-balanced roster with multiple scoring threats.

That was the scenario the Lehighton boys basketball team faced against Northwestern on Saturday.

The Tigers caught fire early with points coming from all five starters in the first half. Despite a response from the Indians in the third, Northwestern shut its opposition down in the fourth and solidified a 56-41 victory.

“They’re extremely balanced,” Tribe coach Trevor Miller said about the Tigers. “If you look at their box scores over the entire season, all seven of their guys that play contribute, and any night they can have a different leading scorer. That’s really tough to prepare for.”

It didn’t matter who the shooter was for Northwestern. What did matter was they all were finding the basket in the first half.

Four different Tigers sank a three during the first two quarters, including two from Cannon Fitch, and eventually finished the half with 28 points.

As impressive as the offense was, Northwestern was equally as impressive on defense, holding Lehighton to just 10 points.

“We really take pride on the defensive end of the floor,” said Brady Krimmel, who totaled 15 points and seven rebounds in the contest. “Our goal is to get stops and then run in transition and try and get easy points.”

To the Indians’ credit, they came out of the locker room and proved they weren’t going to go down quietly.

“I thought we were not very physical even on the offensive end in that first half,” Miller said. “And then we challenged them at halftime, and kind of explained to them that they needed to be more physical in order for us to have an opportunity today.

“(In) the second-half there, I thought they did a great job, especially in that third quarter.”

After the Tigers initially extended their lead to 36-15, Lehighton’s physicality on defense finally paid off on the scoreboard with a 16-3 run that saw Northwestern’s lead cut to 39-31 after three frames. Aiden Solt led the charge during the run with three triples — including back-to-back at the end of the quarter.

Tiger head coach Patrick Wanamaker knew that his team needed to take a moment to relax and regather themselves before the start of the fourth.

“Sometimes you just have to get kids to take a breath,” he said. “They’re young kids, and it seems like the world’s collapsing around you when something doesn’t go your way.

“But we still had a lead. I’m not surprised that (Lehighton) made a run, but I’m really pleased with the way our guys rebounded.”

Whatever he did to calm his players down worked, as the Tigers opened the fourth with a 9-0 spurt and got back to shutting down the Indians’ offense. Brady Zimmerman led the early run with nine points in the quarter, and finished with a team-high 18 to help Northwestern maintain its lead and seal the win.

“We knew we needed to come in playing our best brand of basketball, and that’s what we did today,” said Zimmerman. “We knew this game was going to be competitive. They’re kind of our rivals in basketball season, and we just came out firing early and often.”

CHANGE IN SEASON … Northwestern will finish its regular season with its Senior Night game against Jim Thorpe tonight. The Tigers will then play at home in a Colonial League quarterfinal matchup on Friday.

WIN AND YOU’RE IN … Lehighton wraps up its regular season at Jim Thorpe, who defeated the Indians 65-52 in their previous matchup, on Tuesday. The game may very likely decide which team qualifies for the Colonial League playoffs. “We’re excited to have the opportunity to kind of rectify what happened in that first game,” said Miller. “It’s a game that since that day, everybody in our locker room has circled and highlighted.”

NORTHWESTERN

Bollinger 3-0-0-7, Zimmerman 8-0-0-18, Lagowy 0-0-0-0, Fitch 3-1-2-9, Hechler 0-0-0-0, Krimmel 5-4-4-15, Wertman 0-0-0-0, Kumernitsky 0-0-0-0, Coleman 2-3-6-7, Mish 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 21-8-12-56.

LEHIGHTON

McCarroll 0-0-0-0, Solt 3-0-0-9, White 1-1-2-3, Meek 1-1-2-3, Roberts 4-3-4-11, Steigerwalt 0-0-0-0, Hunsicker 0-0-0-0, Dietz 5-2-2-15, Fairchild 0-0-0-0, Birchak 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 14-7-10-41.

Northwestern 15 13 11 17 - 56

Lehighton 4 6 21 10 - 41

Three-Pointers: Northwestern - Zimmerman 2, Fitch 2, Bollinger 1, Krimmel 1; Lehighton - Solt 3, Dietz 3.

Records: Northwestern (16-5; 15-2); Lehighton (12-9; 9-8).