TAMAQUA - North Schuylkill entered the season with four new starters and its share of question marks.
But the Spartans have quickly matured, and Friday was a perfect example of it.
Matt Manbeck had 18 points in the game while North Schuylkill's defense stepped up over the final 2 minutes, as the Spartans held on for a 54-48 victory over Tamaqua in a Schuylkill League Division I contest.
Jake Damiter added 11 points, seven rebounds and five assists for North Schuylkill (8-4, 5-2 D-I), which remained a game behind Blue Mountain (10-2, 6-1) for second place in the division standings and the wild-card spot in the Schuylkill League playoffs.
"It was big confidence boost," Damiter said. "We had a couple of bench players who played some good minutes. It was a good win.
"Through the year everybody grew up some. Everybody is just ready for this moment to keep us in the playoff hunt."
It certainly wasn't easy.
Down by 10 late in the third quarter, the Raiders (9-5, 3-4) rallied and cut the deficit to a point twice late in the game. The final time came on Bo Rottet's drive down the lane with 1:48 remaining, making it 49-48 in favor of North Schuylkill.
After the team exchanged turnovers, the Spartans ran a set play against the Raiders' trapping defense as Manbeck found Tevin Murray wide open in the middle of the lane. Murray went in for the layup, increasing North Schuylkill's lead with 51-48 with 49 seconds left.
"We needed that badly," North Schuylkill coach Curt Ziegmont said. "We executed a good play."
The Spartans then sealed the game from the foul line, hitting 3-of-6, while the defense held the Raiders to 0-for-4 from the floor the rest of way. All were long-range jump shots as the Spartans bounced back from Tuesday's 55-44 loss to Blue Mountain.
Rottet finished with a game-high 20 points and six assists, while Zach Wargula added 19 points for Tamaqua, which was again playing without leading scoring Brett Kosciolek. The 6-foot-7 junior missed
his third consecutive game with a concussion.
Still, the Raiders have been playing well without Kosciolek and Friday's loss snapped a two-game winning streak.
"We gave a valiant effort to come back," Tamaqua coach Caszy Kosciolek said. "To have the ball with 1:20 left and being down 1, but we just had to many empty possessions on offense. That really hurt us.
"We got as much out of the group that we had. I am not happy losing but it wasn't for lack of effort or lack of fight. As a coach, what more could you ask for from the kids?"
The game started out well enough for Tamaqua, which came out the more aggressive team in the first quarter. The Raiders were getting easy buckets inside, while Wargula and Rottet also hit 3-pointers in the quarter. Tamaqua led 16-8 with 2 minutes to go in the first and 19-13 at the end of the quarter.
But then the Spartans' defense stepped up and North Schuylkill got back in the game.
"We felt (their energy) in the first quarter," Ziegmont said. "They came out and played extremely well. They were beating us up, up and down the floor, loose ball. Just the way they were running, you could tell that they were very intense at the moment.
"I felt we made a very good run in that second quarter, limiting some things they do offensively. When we came out in the that third quarter, our defense was excellent."
The Spartans' aggressive, trapping defense started to take the Raiders out of their offensive rhythm. Tamaqua shot 5-for-21 (24 percent) from the floor over the second and third quarters and scored 12 points.
North Schuylkill cut the deficit to 26-24 at halftime and then opened the second half on an 14-2 run. Major Jordan tied the game on a layup on the Spartans' first possession of the half, while a runner from Ryan Hillbish gave North Schuylkill the lead for good at 28-26 at 7:03.
Damiter later scored on a fast-break layup, Manbeck hit a 3 from the corner and hit a runner in the lane. After Rottet scored inside, Hillbish hit his second 3-pointer of the game from the wing, making it 38-28 in North Schuylkill's favor.