NORTHAMPTON - Palmerton had Southern Lehigh searching for answers.

The Blue Bombers had the top-seeded Spartans scuffling on offense and scrambling on defense in Tuesday’s Colonial League semifinal.

Staring down an early exit from the tournament, Southern Lehigh stood tall to rally past Palmerton 59-56 in overtime to claim a spot in Friday’s championship game.

The fourth-seeded Blue Bombers led after each of the first three quarters, but the Spartans regrouped to force the extra period.

“I feel like we got off to a good start, and I think our kids kind of thought, ‘Well, Palmerton’s just going to lay down, and we’re just going to take this thing on,’” said Southern Lehigh head coach Ryan Wehr. “But once Palmerton started to challenge us, I don’t think we responded to it very well.

“But in huddles, in the locker room at halftime, they kept saying, ‘New game. Let’s win this, and let’s get to Friday.’ And as ugly as it was for us at some points, we got the job done.”

Palmerton used a 14-5 run to close out the first quarter, with Jacob Grammes hitting a 3 in the final seconds, to take a 17-15 advantage into the second period.

The Bombers led 31-26 at halftime, and held a 47-43 edge after the third quarter.

Palmerton flipped the script on both ends of the floor against a Southern Lehigh team that claimed wins of 52-47 and 62-43 during the regular season.

Brayden Hosier spearheaded the offense with 17 points, while Matt Machalik added 14.

Defensively, the Bombers kept the Spartans off balance.

“I think they switched up some defensive matchups,” said Wehr. “I have to admit, I was a little surprised when they came out and they had Machalik (who is listed at 6-1) guarding (Noah) Denton (6-6). But it was an interesting look, and it was pretty effective. I felt like they really simplified things. They ran their weave actions and a lot of handoffs, and we didn’t do a good job getting through those handoffs ... and they would get into the lane and get some easy shots. And once they saw a couple fall, they started to get some confidence and get after it.

“(Palmerton coach) Ken (Termini) does a great job. He had five days to prepare for us, and they were all over our stuff offensively. Just lucky enough to get the job done tonight.”

Southern Lehigh tied it at 49-49 with 4:35 to play in the fourth quarter on a basket by Denton, but Chase Reph (10 points) responded with a 3 to pull Palmerton ahead 52-49.

A 6-0 run from the Spartans gave them a 55-52 lead.

“I told them to just keep believing, just keep battling, just keep being who you are,” Termini said, “which is a tenacious, resilient bunch of kids that play their guts out every night.”

The Bombers bounced back, with a basket from Hosier after a timeout in the final minute to cut the deficit to 55-54.

After a free throw from Denton, Kendall Robinson (nine points) converted in the final seconds to tie the game at 56-56 and send it to overtime. The Spartans had a chance off an inbound play under the basket with 0.6 to play but couldn’t connect.

“I felt like we finally figured it out the last two minutes of the fourth quarter,” said Wehr. “Obviously, we had a lead a little bit of that fourth quarter. And with them playing down Machalik (who fouled out with 6:23 to play), that’s certainly a big loss for them. We did the job we needed to do, we outscored them by five in the second half, got it to the overtime, and just tried to make some key shots in big situations and get some stops.”

Southern Lehigh went 3-of-4 from the free-throw line in overtime, with Denton knocking down the first and Dominik Lisicky hitting the final two.

Lisicky finished with 15 points, while Denton added seven.

The Spartans took their first lead of the second half on a basket by Maxwell Pristas with 3:55 to play in the third quarter. Pristas scored a game-high 20 points.

“I think the defensive intensity has always been there,” said Termini.” I think the difference is we’re patient more often on offense now, and that leads us to getting better shots. We made a couple of defensive adjustments, but clearly it just wasn’t enough.”

MOVING ON

... Southern Lehigh will play No. 3 seed Wilson, which knocked off second seed Notre Dame Green Pond 67-53 in the other semifinal, Friday at 7:45 p.m.

HOT AND COLD ... While the Spartans cashed in from the free-throw line down the stretch, Palmerton finished the game 4-for-15, including 0-for-2 in overtime. Southern Lehigh was 15-of-20 in the contest, and 3-for-4 in overtime.

PALMERTON

Machalik 5-2-5-14, J. Sebelin 0-0-0-0, Robinson 4-1-4-9, Reph 4-0-0-10, K. Sebelin 0-0-0-0, Grammes 1-0-2-3, Hosier 8-0-2-17, Tworkowski 0-0-0-0, Anthony 1-1-2-3. TOTALS: 23-4-15-56.

SOUTHERN LEHIGH

Lisicky 4-4-4-15, Lorio 2-0-0-4, Gordon 1-2-2-5, Andrews 1-0-0-2, Pristas 6-6-6-19, Tankred 3-0-0-6, Denton 2-3-8-7. TOTALS: 19-15-20-59.

Palmerton 17 14 16 9 0 - 56

So. Lehigh 15 11 17 13 3 - 59

Three-pointers: Palmerton - Machalik 2, Reph 2, Grammes 1, Hosier 1. Southern Lehigh - Lisicky 3, Pristas 2, Gordon 1.