ALLENTOWN — One gets the feeling that Central Catholic does not like playing at Sewards Gymnasium at William Allen High School.

In a regular season game against Allen, the Vikings scored just 39 points there in a 47-39 loss to the Canaries.

In Tuesday night’s District 11 Class 4A semifinal game, they managed just 33 points but still picked up the win when they beat Salisbury 33-32 to advance to the finals.

Friday night Central again managed to put up just 33 points and again picked u pa win as they downed Northwestern Lehigh 33-22 to beat the Tigers for the second straight season in the District 11 final.

There were five lead changes in the game as the two rivals battled back and forth.

The first change came with 3:56 left in the first quarter when Central Catholic’s Di’Quiawn Leak got a steal at midcourt and take the ball to the basket for two for a 4-3 lead for the Vikings. The first quarter ended with a total of just 10 points being scored as the Vikings won the quarter 6-4.

When Yariel Gonzalez opened the scoring in the second quarter with a three-pointer, it was the last time that Central scored until :30 into the second half.

“I thought we were in pretty good shape at that point,” said Northwestern coach Patrick Wanamaker. “We did a good job of keeping them in check and battling against them.”

Down 9-4, Northwestern’s Mason Bollinger started the comeback, and Cannon Fitch tied the game with a three to make it 9-9. Bollinger picked up four more second-quarter points to give Northwestern a 13-9 halftime lead.

Just as the Tigers held Central to three points in the second quarter, the Vikings got some pay back when they held Northwestern Lehigh to just a single bucket in the third.

Gonzalez made an inside spin move to the basket to make it 14-13 Central Catholic and a minute later Bollinger hit on a driving layup to give Northwestern the lead again at 15-14.

That lead lasted just 1:10 as Gonzalez drove through the paint for a layup to put the Vikings back on top where they would stay for the rest of the game. He also closed out the quarter with a baseline drive that led to a layup and a foul and the Vikings built a 19-15 lead going into the final quarter.

The closest that the Tigers got the rest of the way was when Brady Krimmel was fouled on his way to the basket and turned a layup into a three-point play to make it 19-18. At that point, Northwestern put up some good shots that went just off the mark or even appeared on the way through the basket only to pop back out.

Central Catholic started to flex its muscles on the boards and when Leak pulled down an offensive rebound and went right back up with it for two, the Vikings were up 27-18 with just 2:08 left in regulation.

“They have their two six-six guys (Gonzalez and Ford) to go up against, and that’s a lot to handle,” said Wanamaker. “We did a pretty good job against them early, but we had to fight for every rebound we got and I think it wore us down a little. Late in the game, that really made a big difference.”

Krimmel hit one of two foul shots and Leak again picked up a basket and drew a foul to go up 30-19.

Krimmel was nowhere near giving up and he buried a three from the top of the key, but when the game shifted to the other end of the court Jared Ford hit a jump shot for a 32-22 lead.

Gonzalez finished off the scoring when he made one of two foul shots to wrap up the game for a 33-22 victory.

Central Catholic was without sophomore guard Grayson Schmell, who was injured in Tuesday night’s semifinal win over Salisbury. After the injury, Schmell was on crutches for the rest of the night.

“If you would have told me coming in that we would hold them to just 33 points, I would have thought there was no way we would have lost this game,” Wanamaker said.

“I did think they would do some different things against us defensively because I was hearing rumors that (Grayson) Schmell wasn’t going to play. When I heard that, I thought they might look to do things a little differently.”

PITCHING TWO SHUTOUTS… Two of Northwestern’s top five scorers – Malachi Coleman and Brady Zimmerman – were held scoreless in the game. Neither player had gone without a point in any game during the season. Only three players – Bollinger, Fitch, and Krimmel – scored for Northwestern and none of them were able to reach their season averages.

NOT DONE YET… Spring sports practices start on Monday, but they’re going to have to start with out any of the basketball players who also play spring sports. Even with the loss, Northwestern still gets a bid into the PIAA tournament and will even start play with one last home game next Friday. Their opponent will be the loser of the District 2 finals, which will be played Saturday at the Mohegan Sun Arena and will feature top seed Dallas against second seed Scranton Prep.

CENTRAL CATHOLIC

Daubert 0-0-0-0, Gonzalez 6-1-3-14, Leak 4-2-2-10, Villegas 0-0-0-0, Edmonson 1-0-0-2, Ford 1-0-0-2, Eddinger 2-0-0-5. TOTALS: 14-3-5-33.

NORTHWESTERN

Bollinger 3-2-2-8, Zimmerman 0-0-0-0, Lagowy 0-0-0-0, Fitch 2-0-0-6, Krimmel 2-3-5-8, Coleman 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 7-5-7-22.

Central Catholic 13 5 7 8 - 33

Northwestern 4 9 2 7 - 22

Three-pointers: Central Catholic - ACC (2) – Gonzalez, Eddinger; Northwestern - Fitch 2, Krimmel 1.

Records - ACC (15-11); Northwestern (21-6).