Defensive intensity was on full display in last night's Colonial league clash between Palisades and Northwestern and neither team was able to eclipse the 40-point mark.

Taylor Breininger of Northwestern hit a pair of clutch foul shots with 28 seconds left to give the Tigers a one-point advantage.But it was Austin Krauss hitting a floater in the paint with two seconds remaining that gave the Pirates an impressive 39-38 victory."Austin has been struggling with his shot recently," said Palisades head coach Ken Termini. "However, he made one with two seconds left and that's pretty hard to do when you're in a slump. That play right there really represents the heart and guts of our team."The Tigers had a five-point lead at halftime thanks to their balanced offensive approach. The team had a first quarter that consisted of six baskets, all scored by different players."At halftime we talked about defending a little better, attacking the lane, and believing our offense would get going. We didn't think it would take the whole third quarter to get going, but it eventually did," the Palisades coach said.The second half was a tale of two stories that eventually set up the exciting finish.Northwestern outscored Palisades 10-4 in the third quarter. The Pirates then went on to have a huge fourth quarter of their own, outscoring the Tigers, 14-4.Not only did Palisades erase a nine-point deficit entering the final eight minutes, but also it included a stretch of about seven minutes where Northwestern was held scoreless."Northwestern spreads the scoring out much like Southern Lehigh does," said Termini. "The team doesn't have just one key guy which at times makes them extremely difficult to defend."However, it seemed as if Northwestern did not have anyone that wanted to step up and make a big shot during the final period.Palisades, however, certainly had the individual who stepped up and took over the game for his team.Devin Ramsden had a game-high 18 points, as he was the only Pirate in double figures in the contest. He was aggressive all night, as 10 of his 18 points came from the foul line."Devin is just an incredible athlete with a tremendous amount of determination," Termini said. "He will do anything you ask him to do and more, I have nothing but good things to say about him."The Pirate defense came through late in the game, as they forced nine Tiger turnovers during the final quarter."If our defense is strong enough to keep us close, we will be fine in close game situations as long as we believe we can win," Termini added. "We need to always believe that we can come back from any deficit. When we do start scoring, we can do it rather fast. We have four wins right now and our next goal is to get number five."PALISADESNewborg 2-0-0-4, Ramsden 4-10-14-18, Gehman 2-1-2-5, Wilkino 2-0-0-4, Krauss 2-1-4-5, Muellen 1-1-2-3, Abalos 0-0-0-0, Fleck 0-0-0-0, Caraway 0-0-0-0, Sadow 0-0-0-0, Noonan 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 13-13-22-39.NORTHWESTERNArcher 1-0-0-2, Williamson 3-0-0-6, Mengel 0-0-0-0, Jones 1-0-0-3, T Breininger 3-4-4-11, C Breininger 1-0-0-2, Schwartz 2-0-0-4, Richardson 2-0-2-4, Markovitch 2-2-2-6. TOTALS: 15-6-8-38.Palisades 10 11 4 14 - 39N'Western 11 13 10 4 - 38Three-pointers: Palisades: None; Palisades: Jones 1, T Breininger 1.