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The Canton Warriors edged 51-49 North Penn-Liberty in NTL Small School Division play for their 7th consecutive win on Wednesday, January 19.

The entire game was neck-and-neck as Canton held a four-point, 15-11, lead after the opening quarter. Both teams scored 12 points each in the second to put the Warriors up 27-23 at the half. North Penn-Liberty outscored Canton 13-11 in the third quarter to cut Canton’s lead down to two.

That would be as close as North Penn-Liberty would get. The Warriors did manage to push the lead to 10 points in the 4th, but the Mounties kept fighting and battled back to get the lead down to six at 47-41 with 2:41 remaining in the game. With under two minutes remaining Derek Litzelman converted a reverse layup to cut Canton’s lead down to 4 (47-43), but the Warriors were able to push the lead back to 8 points at the foul line as the Mounties were forced to foul.

Canton led 51-46 with just 13 seconds remaining when Litzelman drained a three to make it a two-point game, 51-49, with 7.7 seconds remaining. After a timeout and the Warriors in-bounding from the baseline, the Mounties tried to foul and extend the game, but the Warriors were able to break the press to run out the clock and hang on for the win.

Litzelman led all scorers with 26 points on the night for the Mounties. Devin Bradley and Noah Shedden both chipped in 8 points each.

Cooper Kitchen led the Warriors with 14, Caiden Williams finished with 12, and Isaiah Niemczyk had 11.

The win improves Canton to 10-3 (5-3 NTL Small School Division), while the Mounties fall to 8-5 (4-4 NTL Small School Division). Canton is back in action against rival Troy on Friday, January 21 while the Mounties host Williamson.