Geographic proximity between schools makes for a strong sense of rivalry.

With Northern Lehigh and Northwestern located about 12 miles apart, the games between the two teams produce some emotional battles.Wednesday night's Colonial League game between the Bulldogs and Tigers came down to the wire, before Samuel Yadush guided Northwestern to a 51-46 victory."It is a fun rivalry," Northwestern head coach Billy Hallman said. "All the kids talk to each other, the coaching staffs know each other well, and the kids come out and play hard. It's good, clean fun."The win proved to be huge for the Tigers, who face a do-or-die situation with five games remaining on the schedule. At 6-11, Hallman's troops have little margin for error if they hope to qualify for districts."We (probably) have to win out," Hallman said. "It's not that we don't believe we can do it, but we have to take it one game at a time."As the game progressed, there were three ties and nine lead changes.Down the stretch, with the game's outcome still up grabs, Tigers' point guard Samuel Yadush responded with some heady play to maintain control of the outcome.The sophomore tallied eight of his team-high 18 points in the final eight minutes. Even more impressively, he handled the constant Bulldog pressure and was a big part of his team committing only one fourth frame turnover."I have to give props to (Northern Lehigh's) Preston (Kemery). He's a great defender and he's so fast. But I grew up watching my brother play at Northern Lehigh and I love playing here and winning. I never want to lose here."Hallman added, "Sam took care of the ball tonight, and we put a lot of pressure on him to get things done. He's our ball handler and at times, he's the only ball handler out on the floor."We told him to attack the rim and not settle, and he did exactly that."In that first half, The Bulldogs' Joe Egan scored 12 of his game-high 20 points while Yadush put in eight for Northwestern as the Tigers held a slim 24-23 lead.Rob Seyfried began the third with a turn-around in the lane, only to see the Bulldogs go on a 6-0 run behind Gio Colon and two more points from Egan for a 29-26 lead.However, the Tigers outscored their foe 11-4 the rest of the third for a 37-33 edge going into the final session.A Yadush reverse layup and four straight from Rob Seyfried countered a Mason Seiler trey for the Bulldogs, making it a seven point lead for the Tigers with 5:20 left.But that's when an 8-0 run by Nolehi gave them their last lead of the night, 44-43, with just over three minutes to play.Yadush drove to the rim twice to regain the lead for the winners, and a 4-for-4 showing at the line iced it."We had opportunities down the stretch, but we just didn't finish around the rim," Northern Lehigh head coach Jeff Miller said. "We missed a foul shot or two, and they didn't. We had to foul and they converted. Unfortunately, for us, Yadush played a great game."WHO GOT NEXT?... Northern Lehigh now moves on to host Southern Lehigh Friday night, while Northwestern looks for redemption against Palmerton.NUMBERS DON'T LIE... Northwestern finished shooting 43 percent (20-47) from the floor for the game, while the Bulldogs shot 33 percent (16-49). The Tigers outrebounded their opponent 30-25.NORTHWESTERNKemmerer 0-0-0-0, Cunningham 1-1-4-3, Yadush 7-2-3-18, Freeman 2-0-0-4, Bollinger 2-0-0-4, S. Seyfried 2-0-0-5, Thomas 0-0-0-0, Hallman 1-0-0-2, R. Seyfried 5-5-5-15. 20-8-12-51.NORTHERN LEHIGHKemery 1-2-2-4, Egan 7-5-8-20, Seier 0-0-0-0, Seiler 1-0-0-3, Schoff 1-0-0-2, Hess 2-2-2-7, Colon 4-2-4-10. TOTALS: 16-11-16-46.Northwestern 12 12 13 14 - 51Northern Lehigh 10 13 10 13 - 46Three pointers: NW - Yadush 2, S. Seyfried 1; NL - Egan 1, Hess 1, Seiler 1.