SOUTH HADLEY — Northampton’s Naihmond Peters-Wolfe drilled a tough stepback jumper to put the Blue Devils boys basketball team ahead of South Hadley 46-40 early in the fourth quarter on Friday night, upping his total to 25 points for the game.

It was the first and only field goal Northampton made in the frame.

The Tigers’ defense dug in, heavily contesting every pass and shot the visiting Blue Devils took. Isiah James buried back-to-back 3-pointers – the latter a heave from five feet behind the line – to send the South Hadley crowd into a frenzy, and the Tigers took it from there.

Jack Loughrey, who went off for a team-high 24 points, followed it up with four straight points and Noah Rivera cashed in a free throw at the line as South Hadley came back from down as many as 11 points to defeat Northampton, 51-47. The Blue Devils scored just three points over the final eight minutes.

After consecutive close losses to Monument Mountain and Bethlehem Central (N.Y.), South Hadley has won three straight games against some of western Massachusetts’ best competition.

“We had a heartbreaker last Saturday at home, and we knew we had three playoff teams this week,” Tigers head coach Chris Gerber said. “We went on the road to Hoosac Valley, played Belchertown at home and obviously Northampton has been a power around here for a long time with [head coach Rey] Harp, so to have those lined up in the middle of our season – it kind of simulated an end-of-the-season run. Tonight was special how we grinded it out the way we did.”

South Hadley (7-2) used its rocking environment to come out of the gates hot, scoring 19 points in the first quarter en route to a six-point lead. But Northampton’s defense turned up the heat, turning over the Tigers and in turn running in transition for easy looks. A 9-1 run ended the second quarter, capped off by a Peters-Wolfe 3 and a mid-range jumper.

Only four points came from the South Hadley offense after the fast start, which gave the Blue Devils a chance to settle the crowd and head into the locker room ahead 26-23.

“We found a couple of rotations where we found guys that gave us great production on the court,” Northampton head coach Rey Harp said. “Isaiah Brown did a nice job in the back of our zone, and I thought we did a nice job guarding the top of the zone. Our defense really turned it up for us, and that was the difference in the quarter. Jayden Rivera and Xavier Nteta were strong for us on the wings.”

The third quarter featured an offensive outburst from both sides, with Peters-Wolfe and Loughrey – two of the best players you’ll see in the area – trading haymakers. Peters-Wolfe drilled a long 3, then drove inside and kicked to a wide open Luke McGrath in the corner for a 3, and finally cashed in one more long ball, giving Northampton its largest lead of the night, 42-31.

But Loughrey had a response, scoring eight straight points for South Hadley. Loughrey scored 10 in the frame while Peters-Wolfe tossed in eight as Northampton (4-5) held a five-point lead entering the fourth.

“I’ve had Naihmond with us for five years, so I know how spectacular he can be and is going to be,” Harp said. “But I’ll tell you, it was a treat to watch Jack out here tonight. He is a great player. Seeing those two out here, they certainly gave a lot of people a show. We had answers, they had answers – that’s what basketball is about.”

The battle between the stars set the table for a gritty fourth quarter, one in which South Hadley muddled up to fit its style of play. Loughrey, his brother Tim Loughrey and Noah Hambley came up with big rebounds for the Tigers, leading them to extra possessions on offense and one-and-dones for the Blue Devils on the other end.

One of those offensive rebounds led to a kick out to a wide-open James in the corner, who drained his first of two 3s in the quarter. On the next possession, James caught the ball on the left wing, took one dribble into a stepback and let it fly. Despite a hand in his face, the shot rattled home to tie the game.

“It totally changed things,” Jack Loughrey said. “He got the whole stands into it. That second one was tough, with a hand in his face, we really needed that.”

Jack Loughrey’s layups came shortly after, Northampton’s Brown added a free throw in between and South Hadley was ahead 50-47 in the final minute. The Blue Devils turned it over – the story of their fourth quarter – with a chance to tie, and Peters-Wolfe fouled out on the next play. Rivera sank the aforementioned game-clinching free throw to cap off the huge Tigers turnaround.

“We just bought in,” Jack Loughrey said. “We were not rebounding at all in that first half, and we were playing our worst basketball. To go into half down [three] playing our worst basketball, we knew if we just bought in, defended, rebounded and got out in transition that we would eventually win.”

Jack Loughrey’s 24 points led South Hadley, James added 12 points (four 3s), Hambley put up nine points and Tim Loughrey tossed in five for the hosts. The Tigers (7-2) hope to continue their winning ways when they travel to Easthampton on Tuesday.

Aside from Peters-Wolfe’s game-high 25, only McGrath (14 points) scored in double figures, and the senior hit some big shots for Northampton in the third quarter. No other Blue Devil scored more than three points. Northampton hits the road Tuesday night to take on surging Holyoke.