LEHIGHTON — Lehighton’s first official game in the Schuylkill League couldn’t have gone better.
Jordan Knappenberger paced three Indians in double figures with a game-high 21 points as Lehighton jumped out early and overwhelmed Panther Valley 75-31 on Monday evening in Division I action.
Tyler Crum added 17 points for the Indians (4-0, 1-0 D-I), while Tyler Williams had 12. Lehighton opened the game on a 16-2 run, led 21-13 after the first quarter and 37-19 at the half.
Knappenberger was coming off a 40-point performance Saturday against Pen Argyl and heated up in the third quarter Monday, scoring 16 of his points. It keyed a 29-8 scoring advantage for the Indians in the quarter that put the game away for good.
“For some reason they were pumped up a little bit more tonight,” Lehighton coach Rich Oertner said. “Kids are kids, but they came out and hustled right away.”
Monday’s was the Indians’ first game in the league, but the Panthers (1-4, 0-1) aren’t an unfamiliar opponent. The two have played each other regularly in recent years, and Monday’s victory was Lehighton’s third consecutive over Panther Valley.
The Indians won 79-47 in 2013 and 72-49 last year. Monday’s margin of victory was just as big.
“It was probably one of our better games,” Oertner said. “We had struggled a little bit the first couple of games and last game we played pretty well against Pen Argyl. Defensively we had our lapses against Pen Argyl, but tonight, we didn’t have that lapse.”
Lehighton’s offensive performance Monday was a season high as the Indians’ came in averaging 61.2 points per game in its first three contests.
The Indians had no problem scoring Monday, but their defense set a lot of it up.
Lehighton came out in a 2-2-1 press — the Indians dropped back into a 3-2 zone in half court — and both gave Panther Valley all kinds of problems. The Panthers turned the ball over seven times in the first quarter, 14 in the first half and 25 for the game. It led to plenty of easy buckets at the other end for the Indians.
“Our defense creates our offense, that’s the way I’ve always coached,” Oertner said. “If you can get some
guys to put some pressure on and then change our defenses a lot, you can get some layups.”
Lehighton also displayed excellent ball movement on offense, working for the open player. The Indians finished the night 33-for-64 (52 percent) from the floor.
Lehighton scored on its first four possessions, while Panther Valley turned it over on its first three.
Williams opened with a jumper from the top of the circle, Crum hit a five-foot runner, Nick Chambers scored off his own steal and followed by scoring inside. That made it 8-0 at 6:47 of the first quarter.
Charles Nase got Panther Valley on board on a layup at 4:59.
The Indians followed with an 11-3 run to make it 19-5 after Knappenberger hit a 3-pointer at 2:52. Panther Valley cut the deficit to 19-13 as Ethan Vermillion hit back-to-back 3s, while Nase scored inside.
Panther Valley never got that close again.
Williams hit a jumper, Knapperberger scored on a layup and Tom Ruzicka hit 1-of-2 from the foul line to finish off the quarter for Lehighton’s 24-13 advantage.
The lead just grew from there.
Knapperberger added five steals and six rebounds, while Chambers had six boards and three blocks.
Anthony Micholik and Vermillion had eight points apiece for Panther Valley, which dropped its second straight game and was coming off a 64-44 loss to Palmerton on Saturday.
The Panthers have four new starters this season and are still trying to find their way.
“They are good and they have a bunch of kids out there making plays,” Panther Valley coach Pat Crampsie said. “We got killed on the boards. We talked before the game that in order for us to compete with these type of teams we need to be tough, we need to be scrappy and we were not. We were actually the opposite. That is what is the most concerning.”
Game Summary
PANTHER VALLEY (31) — Keo 0 0-2 0, Dubosky 1 0-0 2, Vermillion 3 0-0 8, Stanko 0 0-0 0, Micholik 3 0-0 8, Nase 2 0-0 4, Miller 0 0 0-0 0, Hudicka 1 0-0 3, Eickoff 0 0-0 0, Weng 0 0-0 0, Fisher 0 0-0 0, Blasko 3 0-0 6, Emmert 0 0-0 0. Totals 13 0-2 31.
LEHIGTHON (75) — Ruzicka 3 1-2 7, Cordova 0 0-0 0, Crum 8 0-0 17, Zwetolitz 1 0-0 3, Ortiz 1 0-0 3, Williams 5 1-2 12, Mele 1 0-0 2, Skrincosky 1 0-0 2, Buchinsky 1 0-0 2, Budinger 0 0-0 0, McDowell 0 0-0 0, Chambers 3 0-3 6, Knappenberger 9 0-0 21. Totals 33 2-7 75.
PV (1-4, 0-1) 13 6 8 4 — 31 Leh (4-0, 1-0) 24 13 29 9 — 75
3-point FGs: Vermillion 2, Micholik 2, Hudicka, Crum, Zwetolitz, Ortiz, Williams, Knappenberger 3
JV score: Lehighton 61-33