It had already been a special night — even before Palmerton’s game against Catasauqua started.

But Nate Dougherty decided to add to the evening’s festivities.

Prior to Friday night’s tip-off, the Blue Bombers honored the 1988-89 squad that captured both a league and district championship.

After the ceremonies concluded, Dougherty decided to make his own history.

The senior guard poured in a game-high 31 points, slashing his way to the basket numerous times as well as connecting from three-point range, to lead his team to a convincing 82-54 Colonial League victory.

“It’s always great to coach a player like Nate,” said Palmerton head coach Ken Termini. “Not only is he talented, but he’s a smart, hard-working kid. He had a great game tonight ... I think whatever college ends up with (him) is going to have a real special player.”

Dougherty, who shot 13-of-21 from the floor, opened the game’s scoring with a three. But it was his ability to drive that resulted in six more points and a 20-10 first-quarter advantage.

“I look to attack the rim a lot,” said the senior, who added 11 more points in the second frame to help the Bombers (3-1; 2-1) extend their lead to 41-18 at the break. “But it wasn’t about me tonight, it was about my teammates. Without them ... I wouldn’t have had the game I did tonight. I give all the credit to my team.”

While Dougherty had the hot hand, his teammates played solid defense, rebounded well, and were selfless in sharing the ball.

“We stress (sharing the ball) a lot,” said Termini, whose team shot 59 percent (35-of-59) from the field. “You have to work together ... We have an unselfish team. But when we do get a little selfish, we don’t look very good. When we play the game the right way, we look good and we can really show what a beautiful game it is.”

Dougherty’s beautiful play continued in the second half, as he tallied nine more in the third quarter. Justin Hosier (10 points) added five in the period as the margin grew to 66-33.

The wide margin allowed Termini to give his bench plenty of playing time.

“Everybody works hard,” said the Palmerton coach, who also received 11 points from Kody Kratzer. “We’re a six-day-a-week program. We don’t take a lot of days off. They earn the time, and I’m glad they were able to get it. We never have anyone complain. We put team above everything.”

That kind of attitude, along with considerable talent, helped the 88-89 team grab a pair of titles.

“They came down before the game and gave us a little bit of feedback on what it was like to win a Centennial League and district championship,” said Dougherty. “It was really cool, and very good to see. It was nice to see the fans show support for them.”

OFFENSIVE EXPLOSION ... The last time a Palmerton boys team scored at least 82 points in a game was Dec. 18, 2001 (387 games ago) when the Bombers defeated Pen Argyl, 83-70. Incidentally, the 88-89 team scored 80-or-more points twice during their championship year.

GETTING A LAUGH ... With Palmerton leading 22-11 early in the second quarter, the one scoreboard malfunctioned. As play was stopped, waiting to fix the problem, Catty’s head coach Eric Snyder took a few steps towards the scorer’s table and asked, “Didn’t we have 25 points?” The veteran mentor then smiled before heading back to his bench.

OPENING CONTEST ... Catasauqua captured the JV game by a 58-47 score. The Bombers received 14 points from Hunter Connell and 11 from Tyler Stuck.

CATASAUQUA

Velez 2-0-0-5, Schneck 0-1-2-1, A. Martinez 2-4-4-8, D. Martinez 2-0-0-6, Schiffer 2-1-2-6, George 3-2-2-8, Walakovitz 2-0-0-4, Reitz 0-0-0-0, Hess 0-0-0-0, McKenzie 1-0-0-3, Der. Troxell 5-1-2-11, DiPaolo 1-0-0-2. TOTALS: 20-9-12-54.

PALMERTON

Christman 1-0-0-2, Kratzer 5-1-2-11, Young 2-0-0-6, King 0-0-0-0, Dougherty 13-2-3-31, Delgado 0-0-0-0, Mooney 1-0-0-2, Kresge 0-0-0-0, Stuck 3-0-0-8, Hosier 4-1-2-10, Buck 2-0-0-4, Silfies 3-0-0-6, Nothstein 1-0-0-2. TOTALS: 35-4-7-82.

Catasauqua 10 8 15 21 - 54

Palmerton 20 21 25 16 - 82

Three-pointers: Catasauqua - D. Martinez 2, Schiffer 1, Velez 1, McKenzie 1; Palmerton - Dougherty 3, Young 2, Stuck 2, Hosier 1.