Neither Northern Lehigh or Palmerton are headed to the postseason.

But the rivals were both looking for a late-season victory to build momentum for the offseason on Tuesday night.

It was a raucous atmosphere inside the Bulldogs’ gymnasium for senior night, with Northern Lehigh feeding off that energy and putting together one of its best shooting nights of the year.

The Bulldogs were unconscious from behind the arc throughout the contest, draining 12 three-pointers to help them defeat the Bombers 65-44 in their season finale.

“Man, if we were able to knock down shots like this, we would’ve been able to come out on top in a few more games this season, that’s for sure,” said Northern Lehigh coach Jake Waylen. “I’m just really proud of the way our guys played tonight. A lot of things went our way because of the way we played; knocking down open shots, turning defense into offense and taking care of the basketball. After a game like this, you just wish you had one more game left to play.”

The Bulldogs led 16–10 after one, with Colin Karetsky getting the three-point barrage started for Northern Lehigh in the first with two from deep, but it was in the second quarter where the Bulldogs offense really started to heat up. Another trey from Karetsky, and a three from the right wing from Kellen Bauer, pushed the Northern Lehigh lead to 10 (22-12) with 3:55 remaining in the first half.

Palmerton made a quick run in the second, cutting the lead down to five after a 7-0 run, led by Gaige McGowan’s five points. But then the NL barrage continued, with Bauer adding another triple and Chayce LoPinto hitting a late three to give the Bulldogs a 32-21 lead at the intermission.

In the first half, Karetsky led the way with 14 points, while Bauer added 12 for Northern Lehigh, which shot 6-for-14 from three. McGowan had a nice first half for the Bombers, scoring eight points.

“We didn’t shoot the ball very well from three, and we didn’t shoot the ball very well from the foul line. And they did. I believe they hit 12 three-pointers,” said Palmerton coach Joe Egan. “Credit has to go to them. They shot the lights out tonight, and it certainly made a difference.”

The Bulldogs kept at it in the third, hitting three more trifectas. A LoPinto three made it 37-25 at the 4:57 mark, and then it was Parker Schaeffer’s turn to get in on the three-point party, with Schaeffer hitting two from beyond the arc in the frame. The Bulldogs finished the third on an 8-2 run, carrying a 47-31 lead into the fourth.

LoPinto, a senior, then sent the Bulldogs’ faithful in attendance into a frenzy, knocking down two quick three-pointers to extend their advantage to 53-35. Late in the game, Northern Lehigh senior Zaid Salih also made his mark, scoring three buckets in a row, knocking down a three from the top of the key to start his scoring run and capping off the impressive win for the Bulldogs.

“The whole team was playing for our seniors tonight, and they played a great game,” said Waylen. “LoPinto was on fire tonight. He’s been huge for us on the boards all year, and tonight he was great on the offensive end. Coy Daubert does a lot of the little things for us, and he was one of our best defenders all year and his defense was key tonight. And then Salih came in and did some really great things and got the crowd hyped up. So, I’m just super proud of our seniors, and our younger guys who knew what this game meant to our seniors, and they showed up. And for our younger guys, this is a win that we want to build on going into the offseason.”

BOX SCORE… Bauer led the way with 21 points and nine rebounds. LoPinto finished with 14 and seven boards, while Karetsky added 13 and six rebounds. For Palmerton, McGowan scored a team-high 10 points.

EN FUEGO… The Bulldogs were on fire from three. Northern Lehigh shot 12-for-26 from deep, while the Bombers were just 3-for-18 from three.

PALMERTON

Jedrejczyk 1-2-4-4, Grammes 1-2-4-4, Pengelly 3-1-2-7, Gursky 1-0-0-2, Delgado 1-0-0-2, Buck 2-4-4-8, Reph 1-0-0-3, McGowan 2-5-6-10, Lax 1-0-2-3, Stahler 0-1-4-1. TOTALS: 13-15-26-44.

NO. LEHIGH

LoPinto 5-0-0-14, Daubert 0-1-2-1, K. Bauer 9-1-8-21, Salih 3-0-1-7, Karetsky 4-2-4-13, Schaeffer 2-0-0-6, M. Bauer 0-3-6-3. TOTALS: 23-7-19-65.

No. Lehigh 16 16 15 18 - 65

Palmerton 10 11 10 13 - 44

Three-pointers: NL - LoPinto 4, Karetsky 3, K. Bauer 2, Schaeffer 2, Salih 1; P - McGowan 1, Reph 1, Lax 1.

Records: Palmerton (2-19); Northern Lehigh (7-15)