It is early, but four games into the regular season, Pottsville has been as good as advertised.
One the Crimson Tide’s biggest rivals couldn’t slow them down Thursday.
Eli Nabholz had a game-high 17 points and Travis Blankenhorn added 12, while the defense helped start a late first-half run that lifted Pottsville to 65-29 victory over Blue Mountain in a Schuylkill League Division I contest at Martz Hall.
Thursday’s win was the fourth double-digit victory in four games for Pottsville (4-0, 2-0 D-I) this season. The 36-point margin of victory over the Eagles was the largest for the Crimson Tide, surpassing Monday’s 61-26 win over Pine Grove.
“We played well,” Nabholz said. “We played well against Governor Mifflin (a 64-40 victory last Friday). Last game against Pine Grove we might have taken a little step back, there was not as much intensity. We put a lot of it together today and we definitely got better today.”
Blankenhorn and Connor Hinchliffe had eight rebounds apiece for Pottsville, while Nabholz added six boards and three blocks. Ty Painter and Jordan Melochick each had three assists.
Mark Chelius, the only returning starter this season for Blue Mountain (2-4, 1-1), had 12 points. The Eagles were coming off a 72-55 win over North Schuylkill on Monday.
A Pottsville-Blue Mountain matchup has provided plenty of drama through the years. This wasn’t one of those nights. The Crimson Tide are deep and experienced with five seniors in their starting lineup. The Eagles are young, starting one senior, two juniors and two sophomores.
It turned out to be a rough night offensively for Blue Mountain. The Eagles shot 10-for-34 (29 percent) from the floor and turned the ball over 17 times.
“We played Pottsville,” Blue Mountain coach Dustin Werdt said. “I don’t think you are going to see too many teams come out of here having a good offensive night. I think we helped them a little bit with some turnovers and we gave them some easy buckets. They defend well. They are strong and quick and get out into the passing lanes.”
The game was close early as Pottsville led 10-7 after the first quarter. The Crimson Tide threatened to pull away early in the second quarter, opening with an 8-0 run to go up 18-7 with 3:35 left in the first half. Nabholz finished off the run, scoring on a putback.
Blue Mountain stuck around, cutting cut the deficit to 18-13 with 1:57 remaining on a 3-pointer by Dean Stramara and three-point play by Chelius off a baseline drive.
Then the Crimson Tide took over for good, putting together a 22-4 run that lasted into the second half.
The defense helped spark it.
Blankenhorn started the run with a pull-up jumper. Hinchliffe then had back-to-back steals, converting both for layups, making it 24-13 with 24 seconds left in the first half.
Hinchliffe got into the passing lane on both steals, the type of defense Pottsville coach Dave Mullaney felt was lacking at times last season.
“He got out into the passing lanes and that changed the game,” he said. “It is coming. This group, the problem is we do have the capability of scoring some points, but we want to make sure we are doing it on both ends. Slowly but surely we are coming along.”
Blankenhorn finished off the half by hitting a 3-pointer off a screen from the top of the circle with 2 seconds left to make it 27-13.
Nabholz scored eight of his points during the third quarter as Pottsville build a 42-17 advantage with 3:32 to go after Jordan Abdo knocked down a 3 from the corner.
The Crimson Tide led 50-25 after three quarters.
Pottsville finished the night 25-for-51 (49 percent) from the floor, including a 7-of-22 (31 percent) showing from 3-point land. Everybody seemed to get involved Thursday.
“We know where everybody is going to be and the offense started to flow tonight,” Nabholz said. “It was just working together as a team, running the motion offense. We got so many guys open tonight. I just happened to open a couple of times.”
Game Summary
BLUE MOUNTAIN (29) — Puzzi 0 0-0 0, Stramara 2 1-2 6, Kerstetter 0 0-0 0, Barton 0 0-0 0, Welsh 0 1-2 1, Lewis 2 0-0 4, Donovan 0 0-0 0, Chelius 4 2-2 12, Albertini 2 0-0 6, Granito 0 0-0 0, Zerbe 0 0-0 0, Biever 0 0-0 0. Totals 10 4-6 29.
POTTSVILLE (65) — Hinchliffe 3 0-0 6, Gerchak 0 0-0 0, Painter 2 0-0 5, Blankenhorn 5 1-2 12, Thomas 1 0-0 2, Dunkel 0 0-0 0, Melochick 2 3-3 7, Shuman 2 0-0 5, Witman 1 1-1 3, Abdo 1 2-2 5, Nabholz 7 1-1 17, Coyle 0 0-0 0, Renninger 0 0-0 0, Schenk 1 0-0 3. Totals 25 8-9 65.
BM (2-4, 1-1) 7 6 12 4 — 29 Pot (4-0, 2-0) 10 17 23 15 — 65
3-point FGs: Stramara, Chelius 2, Albertini 2, Painter, Blankenhorn, Shuman, Abdo, Nabholz 2, Schenk
JV score: Pottsville 50-28