Northwestern head coach Patrick Wanamaker challenged his players at the half to come out and step up their defensive effort in the third quarter against Wilson in the Colonial League quarterfinals on Friday night.

The Tigers answered Wanamaker’s challenge and then some, forcing seven turnovers and outscoring the Warriors by 11 points in the third en route to a 65-50 victory.

“In our conversation at half time I thought overall that we played pretty well, even though it was just a six-point game,” said Wanamaker. “Credit to them. They hit some shots and it was a close game at the half. We did talk about defense at halftime and coming out and playing tough defense. That’s the challenge that I laid out for them. To keep grinding and that we didn’t want to exchange buckets.

“We got some good looks on the offensive end in the third and we forced them into some tougher shots and created some turnovers and that’s how we’re were able to pull away a little bit.”

It was a fast and furious first half that saw the Tigers lead 19-17 after one and 32-26 at the break. Wilson actually took the lead over Northwestern to start the second off a Cole Shotko jumper (20-19).

Malachi Coleman came up with two of the biggest shots of the night, hitting back to back three-pointers to give Northwestern a little breathing room with a 25-20 advantage.

Northwestern extended that lead to eight with 2:21 left in the half. Wilson again battled back, going on a quick 4-0 run off deuces from Michael Dibartola and Lafayette Acree to keep the Warriors within arm’s length going into the intermission.

Brady Krimmel came up big for the Tigers in the first half, scoring nine points to go along with four rebounds. Shotko was the hot hand for the Warriors in the first half, scoring 11, including two three-pointers.

“I thought we battled, especially in the first half,” said Wilson coach Mike Glovas. “We were hitting some shots, and we got them to take longer possessions, I thought. But then they came out in third and they started making some buckets.

“They’re a really good team. And when good teams are making buckets, it’s tough. You need them to miss shots, then you need to be flawless and you need to catch some breaks. We had too many unforced errors, especially in the third and you can’t do that against a team as good as Northwestern.”

Wilson opened the third with a make from big man Wyatt Deemer to cut the Northwestern deficit to four, but the Tigers took control, outscoring the Warriors 19-6 for the remainder of the frame to carry a 51-34 lead into the fourth.

A three from Mason Bollinger got the surge started and Krimmel came up even bigger in the third, scoring seven points and running the Northwestern offense efficiently. Five different Northwestern players scored in the quarter, as the Tigers took advantage of Wilson’s seven miscues and its 3-for-11 shooting performance.

In the fourth, the Tigers took some air out of the ball for a majority of the quarter, while still keeping a double-digit lead. The closest Wilson got was 13 points a few times, until both teams put in their reserves with about a minute remaining in the game.

Northwestern, the No. 3 seed in the Colonial League playoffs will now face off with the No. 2 seed Salisbury on Tuesday at 6 p.m. at Whitehall in the semis.

“Overall, just proud and pleased with our guys,” said Wanamaker. “Wilson came in here last year in the league playoffs and had us on the ropes, so we know they can be a dangerous team. Looking back, a lot to like. We were balanced. We had four guys in double figures and we shot the ball well again from the free throw line down the stretch. All things that you want to see during this time of the year.”

BALANCED… Northwestern’s four players in double figures were Krimmel, who led the way with 19 points and nine rebounds, Cannon Fitch with 13 points, and Bollinger and Coleman with 12 apiece.

HOT THIRD… The Tigers shot 8-for-11 from the field in the third quarter.

FOUL LINE… Northwestern shot 5-for-6 from the free throw line down the stretch and finished the night 18-for-22.

WILSON

Acree 5 6-7 16, Shotko 4 3-3 14, Darwish 1 0-0 2, Hall 1 0-0 3, Deemer 3 0-0 6, Durandisse 1 0-0 2, Velasquez 2 0-0 4, DiBartola 1 0-2 2, Samayoa 0 1-2 1, Taube 0 0-0 0, Danielson 0 0-0 0,Spence 0 0-0 0. Totals 18 10-14 50.

NORTHWESTERN LEHIGH

Bollinger 5 1-2 12, Zimmerman 1 2-2 5, Fitch 4 5-6 13, Krimmel 6 6-8 19, Coleman 4 2-2 12, Lagowy 0 0-0 0, Wertman 1 2-2 4, Kozlowski 0 0-0 0, Hechler 0 0-0 0, Kumernitsky 0 0-0 0, Mish 0 0-0 0, Nicholas 0 0-0 0. Totals 21 18-22 65.

Wilson 17 9 8 16 - 50

Northwestern 19 13 19 14 - 65

Three-pointers: W- Shotko 3, Hall 1 NW - Coleman 2, Zimmerman 1, Bollinger 1, Krimmel 1.

Records: Wilson (12-10); Northwestern (18-5)