It would have been understandable - maybe even expected - for Northern Lehigh to pack it in when things got tough.

Winding down a season that has produced far more losses than wins, playing an opponent that had blown them out just a few weeks earlier, and seeing a double digit lead wiped out late in the game, there was no reason to expect the Bulldogs to grind out a victory.But that's exactly what they did.Behind a season-high 22 points from Tyshawn Golden, Northern Lehigh fought back a frantic Northwestern rally and picked up a 63-57 Colonial League victory on Tuesday.No one was less surprised and more pleased about the way the Bulldogs passed their late game character check than coach Jeff Miller."I'm extremely proud of this team," said Miller. "Our record (5-14) might not reflect it, but these kids have busted it in every practice and every game this entire season. I couldn't be happier for them right now.""When Northwestern came back to tie the game in the fourth quarter, I knew that no matter what, we were going to fight and battle. I didn't know how it was going to come out, but I knew there was no way we were going to lay down."For most of the night, it didn't look like Northern Lehigh was going to need any late game heroics to the win.The Bulldogs grabbed the lead two minutes into the game and never trailed after that. Behind a huge half from Joe Egan, they built their lead to as many as 15 points in the opening half before settling on a 31-18 intermission lead."I told our kids at halftime that they had to be ready because Northwestern was going to make a run," said Miller. "They had a lot to play for and I knew they wouldn't go quietly."What Northwestern was playing for was a District 11 playoff berth. Needing four wins in their final five games entering the contest, the Tigers (7-11) were in as close to a must win game as you can get."We talked about this basically being a playoff game for us," said Northwestern coach Billy Hallman. "We felt like this was a game we had to get."We made it hard on ourselves with a bad first half, especially defensively. I love the way we battled back in the second half, but we could never quite get over the hump."The Tigers made several runs in the second half and finally pulled even when Dustin Snyder led an eight-point run that tied the game at 48-48 with 5:48 remaining.The score was still tied with just over three minutes remaining when Golden put his stamp on the game.The point guard scored eight of his team's final 13 points as Northern Lehigh gradually pulled away."Tyshawn has had some really good games for us this season, but this was definitely one of his best," said Miller. "Not only did he get some key points for us, but we rely heavily on his ball handing and down the stretch I thought he did a great job on taking care of the ball against their pressure."Golden finished with a double-double for the Bulldogs as he pulled down 11 rebounds to go with his 22 points. Egan had 19 points and David Shupp added 11 for Northern Lehigh, which had a season-high in points.For Northwestern, Parker Jones led the way with 19 points and Snyder added 10."This certainly isn't the tallest team I've had, it's not the quickest team I've had, and we haven't won as many games as some previous teams, but these kids give everything they have when they step on the court," said Miller. "We have had great senior leadership from Aaron Hofmann, John Taylor, Brian Sheetz and Josh Hamm and tonight was a nice reward for all our kids, but especially the seniors."NORTHWESTERNArcher 2-1-1-6, Williamson 1-0-2-2, Mengel 1-0-2-3, Jones 6-4-4-19, Snyder 3-4-4-10, Breininger 3-1-5-8, Dangello 0-0-0-0, McCann 0-0-0-0, Storm 0-0-0-0, Richardson 3-2-2-9, Haddad 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 19-12-20-57.NORTHERN LEHIGHGolden 7-7-8-22, Egan 6-5-5-19, Taylor 2-1-2-6, Shupp 4-3-7-11, McNair 0-0-0-0, Hofmann 2-1-1-5, Sheetz 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 21-17-23-63.Northwestern 11 7 22 17 - 57No. Lehigh 18 13 15 17 - 62Three-pointers: NW - Jones 3, Archer 1, Mengel 1, Breininger 1, Richardson 1. NL - Egan 2, Golden 1, Taylor 1.