Spartans score season-high in victory

Trevis, 3 others total double figures to beat Colonial League foe.

Southern Lehigh spent December in an offensive funk.

The Spartans have used a new year to gather renewed confidence with their shooting.

Two days after scoring a season-high 67 points against Palisades, Southern Lehigh topped 70 for the first time this season. Trey Trevis dropped 20 points to lead four Spartans in double figures as they pulled away for a 77-63 win over Palmerton in a Colonial League West Division boys basketball game Saturday afternoon.

Christopher Andrews scored 16 of his 18 points in the first three quarters, while Liam Gaughan chipped in with 11 for Southern Lehigh (4-6 overall, 4-3 Colonial League). The improved offense topped the talking points for coach Ben Tannous and his staff as Southern Lehigh pulled into a tie with Palmerton and Northwestern Lehigh atop the West Division.

Southern Lehigh averaged just 45 points during a 2-6 start. It failed to reach 50 points five times over that stretch.

Shots that failed to fall in those games started to drop this week.

“We were hitting a lot of 3s that in the past we weren’t hitting, and I know we’re capable of hitting,” said junior guard Kyle Hoff. “That’s really what helped us. Also, just moving the ball really well as a team.”

Southern Lehigh hit three 3-pointers during a 26-point second quarter. That period allowed the Spartans to take a lead into halftime that they never surrendered.

Hoff’s hands everywhere

Hoff reached 10 points by drilling all six of his fourthquarter foul shots. His contributions elsewhere allowed Southern Lehigh to build its lead.

Hoff spent most of the afternoon covering Nate Dougherty, Palmerton’s leading scorer. Dougherty finished with 14 points, his lowest total of the season and over six points below his average.

Hoff also grabbed nine rebounds (six offensive), dished out three assists and had three steals.

“Every time that we didn’t have a good offensive possession, he came up with an offensive rebound,” Tannous said. “That led to us getting a bucket. It was kind of uncanny that every time we needed a big play that he came up with an offensive rebound to give us a second shot.”

Boxscore breakdown

Sophomore guard Kody Kratzer led Palmerton (6-5, 4-3) with a season-high 21 points. It marked his fourth straight game scoring in double figures.

Gaughan, a junior forward, scored 11 points for a second straight game for Southern Lehigh. He drilled a corner 3-pointer early in the fourth quarter after Palmerton had closed within six points.

Gaughan totaled only 12 points in Southern Lehigh’s first eight games.

“This is a lot of his first varsity minutes,” Tannous said. “Getting his legs underneath him has really been a help.”

Up next

Palmerton plays a nonleague matchup with Notre Dame-East Stroudsburg on Tuesday. The Blue Bombers return to Colonial League play Thursday with a trip to Notre Dame-Green Pond.

Southern Lehigh heads to Freedom for a nonleague game Monday. The Spartans’ next Colonial League game is a Thursday trip to Pen Argyl.