There's little room for error in the Northern League.

Broomfield learned that lesson last week in a home loss to Windsor.

But the Eagles were the ones doling out the lessons in an impressive 64-60 victory against league rival Longmont at the Eagles gym Tuesday night.

The Class 4A No. 9 Trojans came out of the gate strong, but No. 6 Broomfield patiently reeled Longmont back in, then took charge with a 15-1 run in the fourth quarter.

With the Northern League title chase tightening and six teams still with strong prospects for gaining the league's top seed for the state tournament, Broomfield knew it couldn't afford another loss at home.

"We were talking about letting that Windsor game go," said Broomfield guard Nick Tomsick, who keyed the Eagles' charge by making a three-pointer at the end of the third quarter.

"It's still a long season and we wanted to get back into the middle of things."

Tomsick had only five points at halftime as Broomfield (9-3 overall, 7-2 league) trailed the Trojans 29-26.

But the junior scored 16 in the second half, including 9-of-9 from the free-throw line in the fourth quarter, to lead the Eagles with 21 points.

Longmont, led by Syd Donaldson's 6-of-6 shooting to start the game, took a 10-2 lead. But Donaldson cooled in the second quarter, and Broomfield got a strong performance from junior forward Nick Halliday to help pull away from the Trojans.

Halliday scored 14 points on 7-of-7 shooting, topping his previous best scoring effort by two points.

"I don't know what it was," Halliday said. "Everything I threw up there went in. We just stuck with it. We kept pushing it and finally we prevailed."

Halliday's contribution was especially important in the fourth quarter, when Broomfield needed to stop Longmont's frantic comeback attempt.

Trojans forward Cade Kloster completed a three-point play with a free throw to cut the Trojans' deficit to 55-50 with 2:40 remaining, but Halliday scored two consecutive baskets in the paint to push the Eagles' lead to 59-50.

Broomfield opened an 11-point lead on Tomsick's two free throws with 1:39 left, and Longmont couldn't catch up despite throwing up a barrage of three-point shots.

Donaldson scored 23 points to lead the Trojans (9-3, 6-3).

Longmont coach Jeff Kloster pointed to Broomfield's play inside, where Halliday did most of his damage, as the key to the defeat.

"Early on in the ballgame, I thought we really had them on their heels," Kloster said. "But one thing we emphasized coming into this game was not letting the ball go to the middle. I scouted Broomfield twice and knew they really liked to attack the middle of the lane. Unfortunately, in the second half, we broke down and did not do a good job defending the ball."

The Trojans trail five teams, including Broomfield, in the league standings.

Longmont14 15 10 21 - 60

Broomfield14 12 14 24 - 64

L - Matt Martien 4 0-0 12, Tom Pane 5 2-3 12, Syd Donaldson 9 1-2 23, Tevan McIntire 0 0-2 0, David Edden 0 5-6 5, Cade Kloster 2 1-1 6, Ryan Chopp 1 0-0 2. Totals 21 9-12 60.

B - Nick Halliday 7 0-0 14, Mac Dohm 4 0-0 9, Luke Gorman 5 0-0 10, Nick Tomsick 5 9-9 21, Aric Kaiser 1 1-2 4, Jackson Reddy 1 0-0 2, Erik Lockwood 0 2-2 2, Bryce Nobles 1 0-0 2. Totals 24 12-13 64.

Three-point goals - L, Martien 4, Donaldson 4, Kloster; B, Tomsick 2, Dohm, Kaiser.