Raider ‘D’ shuts down Tribe

Getting after it.

In the basketball world those three words mean one thing — defensive pressure.

On Wednesday, Tamaqua certainly got after it, using its aggressive man-to-man pressure defense to stifle Schuylkill League Division 1 foe Lehighton.

The Raiders’ in your face “D” forced the Indians into 28 turnovers on the night, leading to an abundance of transition buckets and a 59-43 league win.

In the first half, this one was close. Tamaqua (10-2) led by three after one, and in the second it looked like it would pull away, leading by nine with 3:08 left before halftime.

But Lehighton’s Collin Troxell kept the Tribe in the hunt. On three different occasions in the second, Troxell was able to connect from deep, scoring nine points in the quarter. His third three of the frame spurred a 7-2 run when the Indians trailed by nine, closing to within four with a minute remaining.

A Luke Gregoire inside bucket to end the first half gave momentum back to Raiders, but they led by just six at intermission.

“I think the key to us being in the game early was that we took care of the ball much better than we did in the second half,” said Lehighton head coach Trevor Miller. “We knew they were going to come out and challenge us defensively, we knew that was a strength of their team and we just didn’t handle their pressure well in the second half. Overall, we just have to better at protecting the ball night-in and night-out — 28 turnovers is just unacceptable.”

It was a tale of two halves in this one, as the Tamaqua pressure “D” wore down the Indians offense in third. Lehighton committed seven turnovers in the quarter, which helped Tamaqua regain a double-digit advantage at the 3:53 mark. The Raiders would go up by as much as 14, and finished with a 12-point lead heading into the fourth.

Tamaqua’s Luke Gregoire scored seven of his game-high 14 points in the third, and was a force on the offensive boards throughout the night.

“We came out knowing that if we played aggressive defense and got out in the passing lanes, that we could cause them some issues and our guys really got after it tonight,” said Tamaqua head coach Jim Barron. “In the first half, we just didn’t finish, I think we executed, we just couldn’t finish on the offensive end, but our defense led to transition points for us in the second half.”

It was a great effort tonight on the defensive end, and we got better offensively as the game went on.”

In the fourth, turnovers again were the issue for the Indians, as they committed 12. A 6-0 run by the Raiders extended their lead to 18, which thwarted any potential comeback from the Indians early in the quarter.

BALANCED ... The Raiders were led by Luke Gregoire with 14 points. Gabe Gregoire added 12, Brayden Knoblauch and Thad Zuber scored 10 apiece, and Darien Stianche chipped in with nine. “Balanced scoring is what we’ll need heading into the teeth of our Schuylkill League schedule. When teams key on our top scorers, everyone needs to step up,” said Barron.

PROTECTING THE BALL ... The Raiders caused 28 turnovers, and did a good job of taking care of the ball. Through three quarters, Tamaqua committed just seven turnovers. The Raiders did commit five in the fourth, but most of them came when the teams had already put in their reserves.

TAMAQUA

Bonetsky 0-0-0-0 Stianche 3-2-3-9 Griffin 0-0-0-0 Kurek 0-0-0-0 Zuber 3-4-5-10 Mateyak 0-0-0-0 Knoblauch 4-0-0-10 Rother 1-0-2-2 Boyle 0-2-2-2 Zehner 0-0-0-0 Agosti 0-0-0-0 G Gregoire 4-3-4-11 L Gregoire 6-2-6-14 Stauffenberg 0-1-2-1; Totals: 21-14-24-59.

LEHIGHTON

Strauss 0-0-0-0 Heery 1-2-2-5 Troxell 5-1-2-14 Carpenter 4-0-0-8 Hunsicker 0-0-0-0 Beers 0-1-2-1 Bradley-Chambers 1-0-0-2 Haydt 1-0-0-2 Schwab 0-0-0-0 Venuto 1-0-0-3 Schatz 2-2-2-6 Howland 1-0-0-2; Totals: 16-6-8-44.

Tamaqua 9 18 17 15 - 59

Lehighton 6 15 11 11 - 43

Three-pointers: T- Knoblauch 2 Stianche1; L - Troxell 3, Heery 1, Venuto 1.