The last time that Northwestern Lehigh was on a basketball court they put up just 22 points in a loss to Allentown Central Catholic in the District 11 finals.

For a while, it appeared that the offense was going to struggle again in the opening round of the PIAA playoffs when the Tigers were able to put up just four, first quarter points.

In the end though, the Mountaineers from Dallas High School, the runner-up from District 2, were able to step up their pace over the final two quarters to take a 57-48 win Friday night at Northwestern.

Dallas’ Pat Flanagan came in as the team’s leading scorer, but the Tigers were able to handle that part of his game early on. The problem was that the 6-4 junior was dominating on the boards at both ends of the court.

He pulled down eight rebounds in the first eight minutes, three of which were on the offensive end with two of those leading to Mountaineers’ baskets.

Down 11-4 after the opening quarter, Northwestern coach Pat Wanamaker made some defensive changes and was able to keep Flanagan from hogging the rebounds. Northwestern also held him to just six points in the first half, helping to keep Dallas from pulling too far ahead.

With Flanagan now under control, the Northwestern offense moved to work from the outside rather than trying to drive to the basket against a team with a size advantage.

Northwestern’s three-point shooting has been strong all season and the Tigers used it to pull themselves back into the game, nailing five shots from beyond the arc, moving from seven points down with 2:24 to go before halftime to Cannon Fitch hitting his first basket with :49 left to tie the game at 19-19. Kael Berry put up a shot just before the horn sounded and drained it from the corner to give Dallas a 22-19 lead going into the break.

“That’s what their defense forced us to shoot (three-pointers),” Wanamaker noted. “I felt like we moved the ball around well and were patient offensively and those were the shots that we were going to get and we made enough of them to get ourselves back into the basketball game.

“Even in the second half, I felt like we took good shots. We missed a few free throws, and that would have been beneficial. Overall, I’m just really happy with the way that the kids battled.”

Foul shooting was an issue for Northwestern in the game. While Dallas hit on 13 of its 16 trips to the line, the Tigers went 4-for-9 in the game.

To start the second half, Brady Zimmerman drove the baseline for an early basket to pull Northwestern to within a point and after a turnover, the Mountaineers somehow lost track of Brady Krimmel and he got the ball in a perfect spot for a three-pointer and sank it to put Northwestern up 24-22 — its first lead since the Tigers were up 4-2 early in the game.

Flanagan then broke out of his restraints and scored five of the next seven points in the game as Dallas surged back in front when he drove through the paint and got the layup and then sank the foul shot he was awarded for a 29-24 Dallas advantage.

Northwestern again worked its way back and trailed by one, but Dallas flexed its muscles and went back up by six.

The Tigers came back, but a three from Tyce Mason and a steal by Joey Nocito that he took to the basket by himself for an easy layup gave Dallas a 39-32 lead, equaling its largest of the game to that point.

Zimmerman closed out the third by making a strong drive along the baseline and picking up the basket and a foul, which he hit to finish the third quarter with the Tigers trailing 39-35.

Even though he had a distinct height disadvantage, Zimmerman went right at Flanagan and got the basket while Flanagan picked up his fourth foul of the game. Krimmel, who would finish the night with 15 points to lead Northwestern, hit his fourth three-pointer of the night with 5:40 left in regulation to make the score 43-42 in favor of Dallas.

The Mountaineers went on a 9-2 run over the next 4:05 for their largest lead at 52-44 with 1:34 left to play. Nocito and Berry took care of the foul shots down the stretch to wrap up the win and advance to the second round of the PIAA playoffs.

“There are worse ways you could go out than a state playoff game at home. We had back-to-back league titles, back-to-back district finalists, and back-to-back state home games,” said Wanamaker.

“One day, these seniors will understand just how special this run was and appreciate it for what it was.”

SENIOR EXITS ... Northwestern loses just three players to graduation, but all three are starters. Mason Bollinger led the Tigers in scoring with a 13.3 points per game average with classmate Malachi Coleman finishing at 11.0 per game. Cannon Fitch finished his senior year averaging 8.7 points per game. Coleman and Fitch tied for the league lead with 39 three-pointers for the season.

SCOREBOARD WATCHING ... Elsewhere in PIAA 4A games, Allentown Central Catholic, who beat the Tigers for the District 11 championship, lost to Devon Prep 68-47 to end their season. Colonial League rival Salisbury did advance in the 4A tournament with a 54-45 win as they went on the road and defeated West Philadelphia. Salisbury will now play Scranton Prep in round two on Tuesday with the place and time to be determined.

DALLAS

Nocito 3-4-6-11, Mason 4-2-2-12, Berry 3-2-2-9, Flanagan 7-2-2-16, Oldt 0-0-0-0, Scatton 0-0-0-0, Geskey 3-3-4-9. TOTALS: 20-13-16-57.

NORTHWESTERN

Bollinger 3-0-0-6, Zimmerman 5-3-4-14, Lagowy 1-0-0-2, Fitch 1-0-0-3, Krimmel 5-1-4-15, Wertman 0-0-0-0, Kumernitsky 0-0-0-0, Coleman 3-0-1-8. TOTALS: 18-4-9-48.

Dallas 11 11 17 18 - 57

Northwestern 4 15 16 13 - 48

Three-pointers: Dallas - Mason 2, Nocito 1, Berry 1; N’western - Krimmel 4, Coleman 2, Zimmerman 1, Fitch 1.

Records: Dallas (20-4); Northwestern (21-7).