WHITEHALL TOWNSHIP — A defense that holds their opponents scoreless for over six minutes of game time gives themselves plenty of opportunity to put up some points of their own.

In the case of Northwestern Lehigh, it gave the Tigers what amounted to a do-over in Tuesday night’s Colonial League semifinals at Whitehall High School.

Northwestern used its defensive domination to score 15 unanswered points, erase a 12-point lead, and grab its first lead of the game on the way to a 56-51 win over Salisbury.

The game opened in a much different way, with the Falcons jumping out to an 8-0 start and continued to push the Tigers further behind throughout the first half. In the first two minutes, Salisbury buried a pair of three-pointers and then moved inside for the quick lead.

Northwestern didn’t get on the board until Brady Krimmel hit a jump shot with 5:01 left in the quarter that made it 8-2.

“We started out slow and they went on an 8-0 run, and we went into the half down by 10, but we came out in the third quarter doing what we need to do. We went on a run and that set the tone for the rest of the game,” said Krimmel, who finished the night with 14 points.

Northwestern trailed by 11 early in the second quarter when Malachi Coleman hit his second three-pointer of the night. After Mason Bollinger dropped in a little jumper, Coleman knocked down another three as the Tigers climbed back, trailing by just three at 18-15.

After a timeout, Salisbury’s intensity was back up and it pushed Northwestern back down to take a 30-20 lead going into the break.

“I had the hot hand, but it was really the defense that got us through the whole game,” said Coleman, who hit four three-pointers on his way to 21 points. “It was that second half where we really picked it up that made the difference.”

Salisbury came out of the locker room looking to throw a knockout punch and took a 39-27 lead midway through the third quarter. That’s when things turned sideways for the Falcons, as the Northwestern defense closed in on their shooters and the Tigers battled back.

Much of the turnaround came from the foul line as the same team that went 0-for-5 from the line in the first half, poured in 13-of-14 foul shots in the second half. Four of those came in a 1:05 span in the third quarter, and were bookended by a pair of Krimmel buckets.

When the quarter ended, Northwestern had closed the deficit to 39-35.

Just as Salisbury’s timeout earlier in the game reignited the Falcons, Northwestern coach Pat Wanamaker did the same with his team on the sideline between the final two quarters.

“It’s hard to not get emotionally invested in a game as the coach when your kids are as emotionally invested as they were,” said Wanamaker. “It wouldn’t be fair of me to give less than 100-percent, knowing full well those guys are giving us a hundred percent every time they’re on the floor, so sometimes it boils over a little bit.”

Brady Zimmerman opened the fourth quarter with a three-point shot just 20 seconds in and 31 seconds later, Coleman grabbed an offensive rebound and put a shot right back up and off the glass to give the Tigers their first lead at 40-39.

On the next trip down the floor, Zimmerman drove through traffic as Northwestern continued to inch further ahead. After a 17-2 run, Salisbury had fallen behind 44-40.

With Salisbury seeking to regain momentum and trailing 46-44, Coleman scooped up the ball on a turnover and raced toward the basket to make it 48-44. Northwestern’s final eight points came from the foul line, with Krimmel going 6-for-6 to lock up the win for the Tigers.

“Last year, we had three tremendous starting seniors who did a lot for us, and a lot of people didn’t think we would make it back this far,” said Krimmel. “To make it back this far with these guys is just great.”

THE ELUSIVE GOLD ... Salisbury has not won the league title since the 2011-2012 season. Until last year, Northwestern had not won since the 2000-2001 season, which was its only championship. After beating Catasauqua last season for the league crown, the Tigers and Rough Riders will stage a rematch Friday night at Freedom High School. Catasauqua knocked off top-seed Notre Dame 72-65 Tuesday night in the second part of the doubleheader at Whitehall. Catasauqua was seeded fourth, and Northwestern was the three seed in the tournament. Northwestern can leapfrog Salisbury for the top seed in the District 11 4A tournament with a win in the finals.

NORTHWESTERN

Bollinger 3-2-4-8, Zimmerman 3-2-2-9, Lagowy 0-0-0-0, Fitch 2-0-2-4, Krimmel 4-6-7-14, Coleman 7-3-4-21. TOTALS: 19-13-19-56.

SALISBURY

Lozada 5-6-7-18, Leiner 3-0-0-7, B. Gonzalez 1-0-0-3, Petrie 3-0-0-8, Frye 1-0-0-2, Cady 0-0-0-0, Muth 0-0-0-0, Makhoul 4-4-5-13. TOTALS: 17-10-12-51.

Northwestern 7 13 15 21 - 56

Salisbury 16 14 9 12 - 51

Three-Pointers: Northwestern - Coleman 4, Zimmerman 1; Salisbury - Lozada 2, Petrie 2, Leiner 1, B. Gonzalez 1, Makhoul 1.

Records: Northwestern (19-5); Salisbury (21-3).