Pottsville coach Dave Mullaney didn’t feel the Crimson Tide played championship-caliber defense during their two games last week.
The defense certainly returned in full force Tuesday night, putting the Crimson Tide one step closer to their sixth consecutive division title.
Pottsville held Tamaqua to a season low in points, while Travis Blankenhorn scored a game-high 14 in the Crimson Tide’s 53-26 Schuylkill League Division I victory at Martz Hall.
Pottsville (18-0, 11-0 D-I) allowed a season-high in points, including 30 in the first half, during a 64-48 victory against Blue Mountain a week ago. The Crimson Tide then gave up 17 during the third quarter last Saturday against North Schuylkill before pulling away in a 60-34 victory.
The defense showed up for all four quarters Tuesday.
The Raiders (15-3, 9-2) came in averaging 61.6 points per game, but couldn’t get anything going against the Crimson Tide. Tamaqua was held to single digits in three quarters, including four in both the first and third, as Pottsville built a 12-4 lead after the first period and 28-11 at the half.
“Last week we didn’t come out and play our best games,” Blankenhorn said. “We could have played better and definitely defended a lot better. I think we were more mentally prepared today to do so. We were more prepared and more focused.”
Pottsville won the earlier-season meeting 57-40 on Jan. 5 and moved two games ahead of the Raiders for the division lead. The Crimson Tide can clinch the division with a victory at Panther Valley on Friday.
“Some of the things we didn’t do a very good job of up there, as far as defending them and some of the switches we do, our kids really executed well,” Mullaney said. “That’s a credit to them because we didn’t even have practice
yesterday. They focused in what we were able to do Sunday and what we relayed to them verbally and they really executed on that end.”
Eli Nabholz and Jordan Melochick added 11 points apiece for Pottsville, while Melochick had six rebounds, Travis Painter three assists and Blankenhorn three steals.
Bo Rottet led the Raiders with 12 points. Brett Kosciolek had nine rebounds for Tamaqua, but was held to a season-low six points.
Despite the loss, Tamaqua still controls its own density in clinching the division wild card and spot in the Schuylkill League playoffs. The Raiders are two games ahead of both Blue Mountain (11-7, 6-4) and North Schuylkill (13-4, 6-4) for second place in the division.
Tuesday wasn’t the Raiders’ night as Tamaqua finished 10-for-38 (26 percent) from the floor, including a 4-for-24 (17 percent) showing in the first half. The Raiders also turned the ball over 12 times.
For most of the night, Melochick was matched up against Rottet, while Blankenhorn guarded Kosciolek, allowing Nabholz to provide help.
The Raiders went 4-for-14 from 3-point land, with three of the treys coming in the fourth quarter when the game was decided.
“You have to keep some of their players off the 3-point line,” Blankenhorn said. “They have very good skill players who can go to the basket and shoot 3s so we had to keep a lot of focus on them. Anyone on the team can score so it was a big team effort from the whole defensive group.”
The Crimson Tide were patient offensively against the Raiders’ 2-3 zone, finishing 18-of-36 (50 percent) from the floor. They were also 6-for-17 from beyond the arc.
“It wasn’t an up-and-down game,” Mullaney said. “Efficiency wise I thought we played pretty well. and when we got the lead, we had a couple of possessions in there where we ran some clock, which is a good thing.”
Blankenhorn scored all his points in the first half, including on a drive from the wing for the first points of the game and on a 3. He also hit 2-of-3 from the line after he was fouled on a 3-point attempt at 2:39, giving Pottsville a 10-4 lead.
Melochick finished off the quarter, hitting a 7-foot baseline jumper at 1:08 to make it 12-4.
A Blankenhorn baseline layup, a Jordan Abdo 3-pointer and two free throws from Blankenhorn gave the Crimson Tide a 20-6 lead with 4:29 left in the first half. Tamaqua got to within 24-11 after Rottet hit two foul shots at 1:58, but Nabholz gave Pottsville its 28-11 halftime lead. Painter set him up for a layup and he then scored on a baseline jumper with 50 seconds left.
Game Summary
TAMAQUA (26) — Shilko 0 0-0 0, Blaker 2 0-2 6, Miller 0 0-2 0, Rottet 4 2-2 12, Coleman 0 0-0 0, Zuber 0 0-0 0, MacDonald 0 0-0 0, Murphy 0 0-0 0, Skripko 1 0-0 2, Kosciolek 3 0-0 6, Scott 0 0-0 0, Berezwick 0 0-0 0. Totals 10 2-4 26.
POTTSVILLE (53) — Hinchliffe 2 0-0 4, Gerchak 0 0-0 0, Painter 0 0-0 0, Blankenhorn 3 6-8 14, Thomas 0 0-0 0, Dunkel 3 0-0 6, Melochick 4 1-1 11, Shuman 0 0-0 0, Witman 0 0-0 0, Abdo 2 0-0 5, Nabholz 4 2-2 11, Renninger 0 0-0 0, Schenk 1 0-0 2. Totals 19 9-11 53.
Tam (15-3, 9-2) 4 7 4 11 — 26 Pot (18-0, 11-0) 12 16 14 11 — 53
3-point FGs: Blaker 2, Rottet 2, Blankenhorn 2, Melochick 2, Abdo, Nabholz
JV score: Pottsville 63-16