Union Local’s Nathan Meyer (11) drives past Harrison Central’s Kobe Mitchell (1) during Friday night’s game. Meyer was one of three Jets to score 14 points.

MORRISTOWN — Another strong start. Another victory for Union Local.

Nathan Meyer, Luke Merritt and Zach Bateman all poured in 14 points Friday night as the Jets won their eighth straight with a 56-50 boys’ basketball triumph against Harrison Central inside a jam-packed “Hangar.”

Hunter McCort added 10 points for UL, which led by as many as 18 only to watch the Huskies close to within two in the waning moments. The Jets went 4-for-6 from the line during the final 33.6 seconds to seal it.

“I’m very proud of the way we finished,” a relieved Jets head coach Zach Delman said. “It wasn’t pretty, but we finished.”

Union Local (9-4), which hasn’t lost since falling to Harrison Central by three on the road one month ago, held the Huskies’ junior standout — Kobe Mitchell — to 10 points on seven shots, including zero points in the first half.

That contributed to another slow start for Harrison Central, something that’s been an Achilles heel for it as of late.

“We’ve been in a little bit of a funk,” Huskies head coach Justin Clifford said following his team’s third straight loss. “That’s no secret.

“We’re looking for answers instead of trying to make things happen. In the second half, we did that.”

It’s true.

The Huskies (6-7) trailed 35-17 at the break, but Mitchell sparked a 9-3 run to start the second half, cutting the deficit to 12.

The Jets, which broke the game open with a 7-0 run midway through the second quarter, answered with four straight points to go back up 16. But Mitchell was starting to heat up, as was teammate Cruz Capers.

Capers, who paced the Huskies with 18 points, was the beneficiary of the excellent defensive job UL’s Zach Bateman, etc. were doing on Mitchell, and he took advantage by finishing the third with five points, including one of his four 3s, as Harrison Central clawed back to within 12 as the fourth started.

John Vermillion, who finished with 15 points, got going underneath early in the fourth. Then, Capers and Skylar Mazeroski drained back-to-back 3s making the score 47-42 with 5:07 left.

Later, Vermillion grabbed his own miss, went back up and was fouled in the act as his shot dropped through. His free throw made it a 52-50 game with a half-minute left. But the Jets were solid at the line and defensively down the stretch and prevailed.

For Delman, the strong start paid dividends again, along with the defense on Mitchell.

“Zach’s had two great back-to-back defensive performances,” he said, citing his work against Barnesville’s Luke Powell on Tuesday. “Kobe is a premier player and we have a lot of respect for him. We tried to make it as difficult for him as possible and tried to make other guys beat us.”

Capers almost did that.

“He can shoot it,” Clifford noted. “We keep telling him. I’m over here going nuts trying to get us fired up. I’m searching for answers and (Friday) maybe we found something. Unfortunately, we ended up in the shorter end, but, hopefully, it shows us something.”

Delman was displeased with how his team, at times, was “careless” with the ball in the second half, contributing to a season-high 18 turnovers. But he said not all victories will be pretty, and he hopes it will be a learning experience for his kids as the season heads into the home stretch.

“I’m happy to sneak out of here with a win,” he said. “After starting 1-4, it would’ve been easy (for the team) to just pack it in and pout. But the kids stayed the course. They came to work everyday. They listened.

“They bought in and kept working hard and it started to click. That’s a credit to the kids.

The Huskies are back in action tonight hosting Brooke. Harrison Central has lost just once at home this season. UL welcomes John Marshall on Tuesday.