NORTHAMPTON – The Northampton defense swarmed Central in the final minute. Trailing just a point, the Blue Devils sought steals or to send the Golden Eagles to the line. Only they didn’t have enough fouls to get into the bonus and stop the clock.

Northampton double teamed Central center Jayden Bass on the sideline. As he fell out of bounds, the Syracuse football signee bounced a pass to the center of the court. It found Dwayne Early diving to the rim. He finished the layup through contact and finished the three-point play.

The Blue Devils couldn’t gain enough traction and fell 59-53 against the Division 1 power.

Northampton’s Kelvin Perez splashed a 3 with 42 seconds left to cut it to 54-53 after Marty Maslowski stole the inbounds pass. It was his second steal in a row, and Maslowski hit a 3 with 1:18 to bring the Blue Devils back.

They trailed by as many as nine points 54-45 with 2:01 remaining after a 9-2 Central run. The rest of the game was played within a two-possession tug of war after an initial Northampton surge.

The Blue Devils led 17-11 after the first half and 28-27 at halftime after Ben Sledzieski splashed a 3 out of a timeout.

Silas Coles led Northampton with 15 points and battled with the broader Bass in the paint all night. Maslowski scored 13 points, seven in the first quarter. Perez chipped in 10.

Northampton will return to the floor Tuesday at Sci-Tech.

Kyle Grabowski can be reached at kgrabowski@gazettenet.com. Follow him on Twitter @kylegrbwsk.]]>