The approach for each and every one of Northwestern’s boys basketball players is the same.

Do whatever the Tigers need, whenever they need it.

It could sound cliche. But it’s the conviction Patrick Wanamaker’s crew carries to the court every day.

And it’s what has lifted Northwestern to a stellar start this season, one that continued with a 76-54 non-league win over Kutztown on Thursday.

“It’s something we talk about all the time, do your job,” said Wanamaker, whose team is now 8-1 and has won three in a row. “I just had a conversation with Brady Zimmerman and he was down on himself a little bit because he missed a couple shots. But I told him that tonight that wasn’t what he needed to do. He defended, he rotated, and that goes for that first group of nine guys we have. Malachi Coleman gave us a spark off the bench tonight. Mason (Bollinger) scored a couple baskets early and got us going.

“We rely on different guys each and every night, and I think tonight was truly a team game. It was choppy at times, I felt like we really didn’t get into a rhythm. But we’ll work on it in practice tomorrow as a team, and we’ll get better.”

It’s a team that embodies a ‘We over me’ spirit.

Even on a night when of its top scorers reached a career milestone, the focus was still on the collective.

Senior Gavin Nelson scored his 1,000th career point on the first basket of the game for the Tigers, a bucket that set the tone and kicked off a 6-0 run at the onset.

But it wasn’t the stat Nelson, who finished with a game-high 23 points, was most concerned with.

“I always thought that I could do it,” Nelson said of scoring 1,000 points. “I’ve put a lot of training into basketball, so I always pictured myself scoring 1,000 points. But it feels surreal. Maybe when I wake up tomorrow it will hit me that I scored 1,000 points. But right now, in the moment, I’m just happy that we got the win.”

The game was back-and-forth early, with Kutztown cutting Northwestern’s lead to 14-13 after a three by Mason Marfil with 2:00 to play in the first quarter. But the Tigers closed the period on a 7-2 run on baskets from Nelson, Josh Wambold and Coleman.

Kutztown stayed within striking distance during the second quarter, trimming the deficit to 31-25 on a bucket by Tyler Hewitt. Northwestern answered with an 8-0 surge to close the second period, capped by a pair of free throws from Eli Zimmerman to give the Tigers a 39-25 lead at the intermission.

“We have a lot of guys that can score, and each night you don’t know who’s going to have the hot hand,” said Eli Zimmerman, who finished with 16 points. “We just have to look for who that is at the beginning of the game, and the rest of us feed off that. Everybody has to have a great game in some phase of the game, whether that’s defense, offense, rebounding, anything.

“I think that’s a great quality of this team, that everybody can do all those things on any given night.”

Northwestern erupted for 27 points in the third quarter, which at one point included seven straight from Nelson near the final two minutes of the period. The barrage was capped by a three from Cannon Fitch at the buzzer that made it 66-43 entering the fourth quarter.

The contributions came from up-and-down the lineup for the Tigers, who got scoring from eight different players, and the selfless play at both ends of the floor that has made this team tough to play against.

And even tougher to beat.

“Our rotation and our lineups are pretty fluid,” said Wanamaker. “We have our set first five, but out of those first nine guys that go in the game, I think that any one of them is starter quality. I think we did a great job kind of embracing the moments tonight. We had Eli get honored, we had Gavin reach his milestone, but I felt like we did a good job putting that behind us when the game started and then being ready to go.

“Overall, I’m really pleased with the way the kids played. There’s never a question about their desire to play hard and their effort, and as a coach there’s really not much more you can ask for.”

SWEET START ... Needing one point to cross 1,000, the Tigers made sure Nelson didn’t have to wait long to get it. Eli Zimmerman hit Nelson on a sweet feed that gave the senior the milestone just 16 seconds into the game.

LEADING SCORERS ... While Nelson finished with 23 points and Eli Zimmerman collected 16, Bollinger added nine. Colten Mathias led Kutztown with 15 points.

UP NEXT ... Northwestern travels to Notre Dame (8-3) Saturday for a key Colonial League clash.

KUTZTOWN

Lane 1-6-6-8, Gallagher 0-0-0-0, Mathias 6-2-6-15, Bergstrom 2-4-6-9, Hewitt 4-0-2-8, Bridges 1-0-0-2, Marfil 2-2-6-7, Scott 1-0-0-3, Dunn 0-2-2-2, Lewis 0-0-0-0, L. D’Agusto 0-0-0-0, Nolt 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 17-16-28-54.

NORTHWESTERN

Krimmel 0-0-0-0, Bollinger 4-0-0-9, E. Zimmerman 6-4-4-16, Nelson 9-4-4-23, Marth 4-0-1-8, Wambold 2-0-0-5, Fitch 2-0-0-5, B. Zimmerman 0-0-0-0, Coleman 3-0-0-6, Berk 1-2-2-4, Fitzgerald 0-0-0-0, Lagowy 0-0-0-0, Wertman 0-0-0-0, Moyer 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 31-10-11-76.

Kutztown 15 10 18 11 - 54

N’western 21 18 27 10 - 76

Three-pointers: Kutztown - Bergstrom 1, Mathias 1, Marfil 1, Scott 1; Northwestern - Wambold 1, Bollinger 1, Nelson 1, Fitch 1.

Records: Kutztown (5-6); Northwestern (8-1).