WINDSOR – Familiarity breeds contempt, they say.

Based on that, the kind of game Bertie and Northeastern faced off with Tuesday night was no surprise.

In the end, the home-team Falcons prevailed 62-57, winning for the first time in three meetings between the pair this season.

Keon Moore led a quartet of Bertie players in scoring with 14 points while Wykevin Bazemore added 13. Norman Cherry III and Philip Perry had 10 each.

Terry Williams led Northeastern with 24 points including six three-pointers.

The Eagles’ Achilles heel on the night came at the free throw line, where they were just 14-of-25.

The two teams came out like combatants who knew each other well. Bertie attacked the basket and picked up its first points in the low post from Perry and a pair of layups from Devonte Wiggins.

The Falcons led, 8-4, before Northeastern coach Ron Nixon called a timeout.

Williams came out of the break and hit a pair of three-pointers, the last one tying the game at 10-all. It would have remained tied, but Bazemore rebounded in a late miss to stake Bertie to a 12-10 lead after one quarter.

Bertie opened the second frame with Cherry hitting a pair of free throws for a four-point Bertie lead, but Northeastern regrouped on five straight from Williams and tied it at 16.

On the next possession, Bazemore wove his way through the lane for a layup, but that would be the Falcons last lead of the half.

Northeastern tied it again and went ahead, 20-18, before settling on a 25-22 lead at halftime in a very physical game.

The Eagles opened the second half missing four straight free throws.

Meanwhile, Bertie not only made their four charity attempts, but also turned up their defense which seemed to ignite their transition offense.

Perry got a short jumper to stake the Falcons to the lead again; then off a Northeastern miss, Cherry drove the length of the floor for a layup.

Bazemore moved closer to the basket which produced four more points on the wing on jump shots and Perry began to assert himself in the paint for another four. Moore added a layup on Bertie’s first fast-break of the game and the Falcons closed the quarter on a Bazemore layup for a 40-29 lead.

Northeastern closed within eight thanks to a 9-4 run in the first three minutes of the fourth, but when Bertie pushed the lead back to 11 Williams got his first trey of the second half.

The Eagles stayed hot, but Bertie got a key play from Isaac Allen to keep up the pace. Williams continued to fire away with threes and got Northeastern within four at 54-50 which less than two minutes to play.

Bertie then had their own woes at the line, missing 5-of-6, but the Eagles had to get shots off quickly and couldn’t follow up their misses on the offensive boards.

Bertie corrected things with their foul shots and made 5-of-6 before running out the clock at moving into a second-place tie with the win.

“Our half-court didn’t work as well tonight,” said Bertie coach Lester Lyons, “but once we got a chance to run we opened things up. We had a lot of different guys put the ball in the basket.”

“We missed free throws, we didn’t box out on rebounding,” said a frustrated Northeastern coach Ron Nixon, who’s team saw their seven-game win streak snapped. “We just didn’t finish the job tonight.”

Northeastern returns to play Hertford County Friday night in Ahoskie. Bertie travels to Pasquotank.