BETHLEHEM — The Catasauqua Rough Riders like to use their speed and athleticism to run teams into the hardwood.

To counter that, Northwestern Lehigh looked to slow them down just enough to disrupt the Catty offense.

The Tigers’ more relaxed style of play threw the Rough Riders off early on so that when things went into high gear, Northwestern had enough of a cushion — and enough of their own athleticism — to escape Freedom High School with a 59-56 win and its second straight Colonial League championship.

Northwestern Lehigh fell behind early, trailing by as many as six points in the first quarter, but a combination of a solid game plan and Mason Bollinger taking over the game with nine straight points put the Tigers ahead midway through the quarter, and they never relinquished the lead.

Bollinger’s run started when Northwestern was down 8-3 and included a little of everything. It began with a pair of foul shots, continued with a three-pointer to make it 8-7 with 4:10 left in the quarter, and then Bollinger turned his own offensive rebound into a basket that gave the Tigers their first lead of the night. A couple more foul shots followed, and Northwestern led 11-8.

Scoring in the second quarter was more balanced, but the Tigers slowly stretched their lead.

Malachi Coleman hit a three-pointer to give Northwestern its largest lead of the night to that point at 21-14. The lead eventually grew to nine when Bollinger drove the lane for his 13th point, and Northwestern closed out the half on a 9-0 run to take a 34-18 lead into halftime.

“In the first half, the pace of the game was kind of going our way, and that’s why we were able to build a 16-point lead going into halftime,” said Northwestern’s Brady Krimmel. “They did what they wanted to do to create a little bit of chaos, kind of turned us over a little bit and made their run, but we weathered it pretty well.”

The Rough Riders came out like five rockets in the third quarter, pushing the ball up and down the court.

When senior Frankie Pujols hit a three-pointer with 4:15 left in the quarter, the lead was cut to 10. From there, things settled down briefly, but Cannon Fitch hit a three-pointer from the corner just before the buzzer, to make it a 48-36 game heading into the fourth.

No sooner had the Tigers fought off that rally than they were forced to regroup again.

Hamaad Jenkins and Aalani Nix combined to score six straight points, and Reece Lopez added a bucket off an offensive rebound to cut the lead to six at 50-44 with 5:26 left in regulation. Fitch stopped the run with a pair of free throws, but it was only a momentary pause.

Catasauqua went right back into full-throttle mode as Nix hit two foul shots, drove the lane for a basket, and then capped his personal seven-point run with a three-pointer to make it a 52-51 game with just 1:51 remaining.

“It’s always fun when you’re scoring points, but it actually wasn’t our game plan,” said Fitch, who finished with a game-high 19 points. “We wanted to slow them down because they’re a fast team, and we did that pretty well, but they still got to run more than we wanted them to.”

Fitch delivered another big play moments later, coming up with a steal and taking it coast-to-coast to give the Tigers some breathing room at 56-51. Nix continued to look unstoppable from the outside, drilling a three-pointer to cut the lead back to two.

Forced to foul, Catasauqua watched as Brady Krimmel and Fitch combined to hit three of four free throws to push the lead to 59-54. With the defense focused on Nix, Jenkins knocked down a jumper to make it a three-point game with 3.2 seconds left.

Fitch returned to the line but missed the first free throw. After a timeout, Wanamaker sent four defenders back and left Fitch and four Rough Riders lined up for the final foul shot. When the ball left Fitch’s hand, he thought it was right on target, but it drifted off the right side of the rim.

His quick reaction proved crucial.

“I saw that Jenkins didn’t react to it very quickly, so I just went for the ball and was able to beat him to it,” Fitch said. “I tipped it up where I could get it, pulled it in, and held on.”

The horn sounded, and the celebration of Northwestern’s second straight win over Catasauqua in the league finals was on.

“We worked really hard toward something that a lot of people didn’t give us a chance at, and these kids motivated themselves with that,” said Wanamaker. “We needed every ounce of that motivation and hard work in the second half to close out the game.”

THE NEXT STEP ... Northwestern can take a little time to celebrate before beginning its quest for another set of gold medals in the District 11 playoffs. The Tigers will be the top seed in the Class 4A bracket and will receive a bye into the semifinals. Northwestern will return to action on Feb. 24.

CATASAUQUA

Pujols 4 0-2 9, Lopez 4 0-0 11, Jenkins 5 5-5 15, Lorah 0 0-0 0, Nix 5 4-6 17, Bolmer 1 0-0 2, Vaz 0 2-2 2. TOTALS: 19 11-15 56.

NORTHWESTERN

Bollinger 5 4-4 15, Zimmerman 4 2-2 11, Fitch 5 6-10 19, Krimmel 3 5-6 11, Coleman 1 0-0 3, Lagowy 0 0-0 0, Wertman 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 18 17-22 59.

Catasauqua 10 8 18 20 - 56

Northwestern 16 18 14 11 - 59

Three-Pointers: Catasauqua - Nix 3, Lopez 3, Pujols 1; Northwestern - Fitch 3, Bollinger 1, Coleman 1, Zimmerman 1.

Records: Catasauqua (19-6); Northwestern (20-5).