It’s not how you start. It’s how you finish.

After falling behind 10-2 early in the game, Pleasant Valley’s boys basketball team rallied to defeat the Catasauqua 48-47 to win the Slatington Rotary Club Tournament held at Northern Lehigh High School.

Jubilant Bears’ head coach Bob Hahn said his team’s fourth victory of the season was sort of a milestone.

“We’ve had a tough early schedule, but in my six years at Pleasant Valley, we’ve never won four games this early in the season, so I’m hoping this victory keeps us moving forward into the new year.”

With 25 seconds left in the game, Catty’s Hamaad Jenkins drilled a three-pointer from beyond the top of the key for a 47-46 lead. But with only 11 seconds left on the clock, Pleasant Valley’s Zach Prator took a pass in the paint and drained a turnaround jump shot for what would become the winning basket.

Prator, the tournament MVP, scored key baskets throughout the game and led his team with a game-high 22 points.

The contest had three ties and nine lead changes, with eight of those happening in a frantic final period. Pleasant Valley took a 33-31 lead 55 seconds into the fourth on a driving layup by Jaxson Haines. Franklin Pujols tied it with a driving layup of his own, before Reece Lopez hit a trey for a 38-35 Catty advantage with 4:35 left to play.

Prator’s bank shot cut the deficit to a single point, and Jared Moore brought the Bears’ fans to their feet with a driving reverse lay up and a 39-38 lead. Moore followed that up with a turnaround jumper to put the Bears up by three with 2:55 remaining in the game.

Catasauqua scored the next two baskets, one on a hook shot in the paint by Jeremiah Coffee, the other on a putback by Matthew Fotta.

Trailing 43-42, Prator scored again on a layup, but Lopez hit two free throws to give Catty a one point lead with 1:43 left. Moore sank two foul shots, and with the Bears leading 45-44, the Rough Riders were fouled but called for a lane violation.

A free throw by Haines and a three by Catty’s Jenkins set the stage for Prator’s winning score.

“We’ve had some tough losses,” said Prator after the game, “so this win feels great, especially one that wins the tournament.”

After the Bears’ fell behind 10-2 and the Roughies were threatening to run away with the game, a 7-0 run on baskets by Moore, Jacob Loch, and Prator cut the lead to one. A lay up by Moore gave Pleasant Valley its first lead with three seconds to play in the first period, but a buzzer beater three by Lopez gave Catty a 13-11 lead going into the second frame.

On the short side of a 22-18 score going into the third period, the Bears outscored the Rough Riders 15-7, with Haines tallying six of his seven points in those eight minutes, along with another seven thrown down the rim by Prator.

“When I’m one on one with anybody, I feel I can win the battle,” said Prator. “Tonight I was leaned on heavy by my defender, but I was still able to work into the paint where I take my best shots. When they collapse down on me, I look to pass to one of my teammates that should be open.”

Although Hahn was unhappy with his team’s start of the game, he loved the squad’s finish.

“I liked the way our 1-2-2 zone put pressure on them to shoot from the outside, which we felt was not their strength,” said Hahn. “They like to run with the ball too, but I thought we did a good job controlling the tempo. We have good shooters, and we like to play inside out, and we were very good at that tonight.

PANTHERS WIN CONSOLATION GAME … Bethlehem Christian, which lost 79-72 to Catasauqua in the semifinals Thursday, defeated Northern Lehigh 95-82 in the consolation game. All tourney selection Kellen Bauer scored 32 points in the Bulldogs loss.

CRY FOUL … Although both Catasauqua and Pleasant Valley each scored seven points from the foul line, the Rough Riders missed seven others, which was a huge factor in the one point loss.

CATASAUQUA

Pujols 7-2-2-17, Jenkins 3-1-4-10, Lopez 2-2-2-8, Coffee 2-2-5-6, Fotta 2-0-1-4, Bolmer 1-0-0-2, Weaver 0-0-0-0, Lorah 0-0-0-0, Nix 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 17-7-14-47.

PLEASANT VALLEY

Prator 10-2-3-22, Moore 5-2-2-12, Haines 2-1-2-7, Sacci 1-2-2-4, Loch 1-0-0-3, Roselli 0-0-0-0, Kauffman 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 19-7-9-48.

Catasauqua 13 9 7 18 - 47

Pleasant Valley 11 7 15 15 - 48

Three-pointers: C -Jenkins 3, Lopez 2, Pujols 1. P – Haines 2, Loch 1.

Records: Catasauqua (2-6); Pleasant Valley (4-6)

Consolation game

BETHLEHEM CHRISTIAN

Harris 10-6-6-28, G. Transure 10-1-2-22, Swift 8-0-0-19, R. Rex 5-1-2-13, Wescoe 3-0-0-7, Kasper 2-0-0-4, Brown 1-0-0-2, J. Transure 0-0-0-0. Transure 0-0-0-0, Frasier 0-0-0-0, P. Rex 0-0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 39-8-10-95.

NORTHERN LEHIGH

Bauer 13-4-8-32, Simms 8-5-5-22, Smith 6-3-3-15, Daubert 3-0-0-8, Salih 1-0-0-3, LoPinto 1-0-0-2, Karetsky 0-0-0-0. TOTALS:32-12-19-82.

Bethlehem Christian 31 22 26 16 - 95

Northern Lehigh 16 17 25 24 - 82

Three-pointers: BC- Swift 3, Harris 2, R. Rex 2, G Transure 1, Wescoe 1. NL- Bauer 2, Daubert 2, Simms 1, Salih 1.

Records: BC (8-1) NL (2-6)