In a game of runs where North Penn-Liberty came back several times from being down multiple possessions, it was NEB that would rally late in the fourth quarter from a 6-point deficit to earn the win. 

Down 35-32 as they entered the final frame, the Mounties got an Evan McTish putback, a 3-pointer and a breakaway lay-up by Landon Mattern and a drive by Brody Grinnell to go on a 9-0 run and take a 41-35 lead with four and a half minutes left in the game. 

NEB scored inside and hit a three to pull to within one at 41-40 before Conner Lewis hit a turnaround jumper from the lane to make it 43-40 with 1:46 remaining. The Panthers answered with a basket and McTish hit two free throws, followed by another NEB bucket with 38 seconds left to make it 45-44 Liberty. 

Luke Kreger hit one-of-two from the line with 26 seconds left to put the Mounties up 46-44, before NEB got two freebies with 11 seconds left to tie it up. The Mounties had lots of time to get the ball up court and work for a winning shot, but NEB’s press forced NPL into a turnover and the Mounties responded by fouling NEB’s Cooper Brown with just 1.2 seconds left.

Brown, who had scored his 1,000th career point earlier in the second half, hit both free throws to seal the Panther win. 

McTish led the Mounties with a game-high 21 points .. including an 11-for-12 effort from the line .. while Mattern finished with 10 points. 

Lewis scored eight points in the loss and added 13 rebounds and seven blocked shots against NEB’s big front line, while Kreger had five points and Grinnell rounded out the Mounties’ scoring attack with two points. 

NEB opened the game by going up 9-2 but McTish scored six early points and Kreger and Lewis helped the Mounties cut the lead to 13-10 by the end of the first quarter. 

McTish started off the second with a bucket, followed by a Kreger jumper in the lane and a McTish free throw to put the Mounties up 15-13, but the Panthers went on their own 9-0 run and led 22-15 with two and a half minutes left in the first half. 

Kreger found McTish on a breakaway and NPL and NEB traded buckets to leave the Panther lead at 25-21 at the break. 

Jumpers from Lewis and Mattern to start the second half tied the game at 25-all before NEB pushed their lead to 32-25 midway through the third. McTish scored four straight and a Mattern ‘and-1’ again knotted the game up with 2:49 left in the third, 32-32, before NEB ended the frame with three points to set up the thriller of a fourth quarter.

Northeast Bradford seals up the NTL Small School title with the win, as NPL’s previous win over the Panthers remains NEB’s lone league loss and they have CV (5-13), Canton (1-17) and Sayre (3-15) remaining, while Liberty, 11-7 overall and 8-5 in the league, returns to action Saturday when they host Sayre. 

The Mounties will finish their regular season up next week as they’re at South Williamsport on Monday, at Williamson on Wednesday and host Canton on Friday.