Defense and determination.

That’s what it took for the Northern Lehigh boys’ basketball team to get its first win of the season in a thrilling 56-51 victory over the Wilson Area Warriors on Wednesday.

After Dare-Rious Smith’s driving layup gave Northern Lehigh a 4-2 lead with 5:40 to go in the first period, the Bulldogs trailed until Coy Daubert scored with 4:05 left in the third quarter to give them a 34-33 lead.

From that point on there were four ties and five lead changes as the outcome remained in doubt until the final four seconds of the contest.

The Bulldogs opened their lead to 46-42 on a jump shot from Connor Sims at the start of the final period. After an exchange of free throws, Wilson’s Cole Shotko hit on a three-pointer from the top of the key to bring the Warriors to within one, 49-48. With the Bulldogs in the bonus, Smith added a point with a foul shot, but Shotko then nailed another trey for a 51-50 Warrior lead with 1:10 left in the game.

“We played great defense in the period, but for our kids to believe in themselves, they needed to find a way to win this one,” said NL coach Bob Fahler.

And his team did exactly that. With 38 seconds left to play and still down a point, Wilson failed to get an inbounds pass and was called for a five-second violation. Fourteen seconds later, Kellen Baur’s driving layup put the ‘Dawgs up by one, 52-51. After an exchange of possessions, Simms scored a layup off an inbounds’ pass for Northern Lehigh before another Warrior miscue put Daubert on the free-throw line and he sank both to ice it.

The game began with poor shooting by Northern Lehigh, which missed 17 shots in the first quarter while Wilson’s Lafayette Acree led his team to a 17-11 advantage after the first eight minutes. During the period, the Warriors scored seven of their baskets by layups.

“We missed a lot of shots, and took some pretty bad ones,” but it really doesn’t do any good to yell at them because they were missing, “said Fahler. “You can’t score if you don’t shoot.”

Once the ball started to find the bottom of the net, the home crowd got behind their team to cheer them on.

“I liked the way we moved the ball around,” said Fahler. “That’s how we got some good looks.”

Cutting off passing lanes, and forcing the Warriors to take more outside shots, made a huge difference in the Bulldog comeback. In the second period, Wilson shot just 24 percent from the floor.

“We really try to sell our players on playing strong defense, but until they see it help them win a game, they might not be buying into it,” said Fahler.

Northern Lehigh found itself down by five at the half until Simms scored 11 of his team-high 19 points in the third to pace the home team to a two-point lead going into the final session.

The game was physical, with constant body contact and both teams diving on the hardwood for loose balls. With their first win becoming a real possibility, the Bulldogs kicked their determined efforts up a notch and they would not be denied.

“We like to play fast and physical,” said Fahler, “and that style worked well tonight.”

The second-year coach believes his team took a step forward in trying to build a winning culture at Northern Lehigh.

“They need to believe in themselves,” he said. “Now the objective is getting over the hump and put a few wins together.”

SHARPSHOOTER … Wilson’s Cole Shotko, with an appropriate last name, led his team with 17 points, 15 of them coming via five three-pointers.

FOUL BALLS … The difference happened from the free-throw line. Northern Lehigh scored 10 points on 14 attempts, while Wilson tallied only two points in five attempts from the charity stripe.

WILSON

Shotko 6-0-0-17, M. Acree 8-1-3-17, L. Acree 5-1-2-11, Cressman 1-0-0-2, Darwish 1-0-0-2. Singleton 0-0-0-0, Durandisse 0-0-0-0, Brophy 0-0-0-0, Hall 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 22-2-5-51.

NORTHERN LEHIGH

Simms 7-4-6-19, Rious-Smith 4-3-4-11, Bauer 5-0-1-11, Daubert 2-2-2-7, LoPinto 2-1-2-6, Karetsky 1-0-0-2. TOTALS: 21-10-14-56.

Wilson 17 8 17 9 - 51

Northern Lehigh 11 9 24 12 - 56

Three- pointers: Wilson - Shotko 5; Northern Lehigh - Simms 1, Baur 1, Daubert 1, LoPinto 1.

Records: Wilson (1-2); Northern Lehigh (1-4).