BETHLEHEM, Pa. - In a battle of top-ten nationally-ranked teams, 4th ranked Montgomery County Community College outlasted #10 Northampton 71-69 on Saturday afternoon at the Arthur L. Scott Center.

After falling behind by 20 points with 16:15 remaining in the game, Northampton surged back to take a 2-point lead with under two minutes to play at 67-66, but Montgomery responded with an old fashioned 3-point play to regain the lead at 69-67 with 1:14 remaining.  Northampton tied the score at 69 with 47.8 seconds left in the game, but once again the Mustangs responded with Niguel Cooke finding Jake Schalki for the lay-in with 23 seconds left to take a 71-69 advantage.  After a timeout, the Spartans ran a play and appeared to have the tying basket, but a huge block by Montgomery kept the Mustangs in the lead.  On the ensuing inbounds play, the Spartans got a clean look and a tip-in opportunity, but neither would drop. 

Mel Copeland (Allentown, PA/William Allen) and Michael Marable (Harrisburg, PA/Susquehanna Twp.) led Northampton with 17 points each, while Kymir Roper (Upper Darby, PA/Upper Darby,) added 12 and Amyr Fox (Harrisburg, PA/Central Dauphin East ) chipped in with 11. 

The Spartans held a slight edge on the boards, 33-32, with Fox grabbing 8 rebounds. Roper added 5 rebounds and 3 steals. 

"It was a great match-up" commented Head Coach Brennan McCarthy, "we dug ourselves a big hole, but still found a way to get out of it and actually get a lead, but credit Montgomery, they didn't flinch and made a couple big plays down the stretch to earn the win."

The loss drops Northampton to 5-2 overall, 2-1 in Region 19 and 1-1 in the EPAC.

Montgomery moves to 8-0 overall with the victory. 

Northampton hosts Eastern University JV on Tuesday at 7pm.