Northampton Bounces Back With 40-37 Hard Fought Win Over Bethlehem Catholic

	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Final
Northampton	14	6	9	16	45
Nazareth	18	13	11	18	60

With the game originally scheduled for Tuesday, January 27, Nazareth had to wait 2 more days for their Senior Night and another crack at the same K-Kids team they had lost to back on January 6th at Northampton, by a final score of 62-45. Nazareth got their revenge, with help from their seniors in fact, as the combo of Blake Nagurney and Gavin Kershner combined for 29 points and propelled Nazareth to a 60-45 win.

The long anticipated rematch began with a hot shooting battle between Nazareth’s Blake Nagurney and Northampton’s Jake Raysely, with Nagurney scoring 7 pts in the first quarter, including a 3, and Raysely scoring 6 pts on two 3 pointers. Both were the leading scorers for their respective teams after 1 quarter, and Nazareth was able to get out to a fast start with 18 points, as opposed to the 4 points they were held to in the 1st the last time these two teams met 3 weeks prior.

The 2nd quarter saw Nazareth extend their lead with a balanced team effort which saw most of their starting lineup score, including Zak Noel, Nagurney, Robert Grzenda, Kershner, and Mason Marinelli, with the earlier 3 all scoring 3 points. Northampton’s Noah Walakovits lead the 2nd quarter with 4 of the team’s 6 points, which was a cold shooting quarter for the normally hot K-Kids. Nazareth built a 31-20 halftime lead.

The 3rd quarter featured a balanced quarter between the 2 teams with Northampton’s Brady Simock popping two 3 pointers and giving The K-Kids some life. However, Nazareth countered with more balanced scoring, which was the theme of the night for them, as most of the starters scored at least 2 points, with Robert Grzenda leading the quarter with 4 points for them. Simock led Northampton with 6 points that quarter.

The 4th quarter was another balanced quarter between the 2 teams with only 2 points separating the 2 teams in total points. However, Nazareth’s earlier momentum allowed them breathing room and Gavin Kershner’s 8 points led Nazareth in scoring that quarter. Brady Simock and Jake Raysely both had 5 points that quarter to lead for Northampton, as Nazareth pulled out a huge win against the team that beat them in similar fashion earlier in the month.

Nazareth improved to 17-4 with the win and took a loss at Easton the next night to fall to 17-5. Northampton fell to 15-4 with the loss but bounced back against Bethlehem Catholic the next night to improve to 16-4. Northampton battles Pocono Mtn West at Parkland High School on Sunday at 1 PM and Nazareth travels to take on Liberty at 7 PM on Monday.