POTTSVILLE - Last week during Tamaqua's overtime Schuylkill League championship loss to Pottsville, the Blue Raiders decided to play the "chess match" and hold the ball for most of the first quarter. In result, the strategy kept Pottsville off of the scoreboard for the most part, as the score was 2-0 headed into the second frame.

Last night it is was North Schuylkill who wanted to control the early tempo and slow the game down. The Spartans held the ball for a majority of the first quarter, as the two teams were tied at 6-6 apiece headed into the second period.However, the Raiders switched to a man-to-man defense to force some action after the first frame. In result, Tamaqua maintained a short lead for most of the game, but the advantage was never more than two possessions except for an instance in the fourth quarter.The Raiders were able to hit some critical foul shots down the stretch and close out a 39-33 PIAA AAA quarterfinal victory.A critical sequence in favor of Tamaqua came late in the second quarter. Tamaqua closed out the second frame on a 6-0 run which included a tenacious Brett Kosciolek steal and slam dunk combination on a fast break which erupted the Raider faithful in the bleachers. The 1,000-point scoring senior ended the game with just nine points, but that slam-dunk seemed to spark Tamaqua heading into the locker room with a three-point advantage."I told him (Brett) that you have to play with that desire the rest of the way," said Tamaqua head coach Caszy Kosciolek. "A dunk like that really gets you going. That gave us the fire we needed. I think the key was to come out strong in the third quarter. We needed to try and take control of the game. Once we had the lead, we did a good job maintaining it."Right on queue, the Raiders forced two consecutive turnovers on the Spartan's first two offensive possessions of the second half.However, the Spartans wouldn't go away that easily much thanks to big-man Tevin Murray. Murray finished the contest tied for a team-high with 10 points and grabbed an impressive 14 rebounds. Not many teams in the Schuylkill League can compete with the size and length of Tamaqua in the paint, but Murray and fellow big-man Major Jordan gave a great effort."Everyone definitely chipped in for us tonight," the Tamaqua coach said. "You have to give North Schuylkill a ton of credit, they play as good of defense as we've seen all year. Every possession was a grind-out physical type basketball game. We were fortunate to come out on top. "Kosciolek and fellow 1,000-point scoring senior Bo Rottet combined for just 16 points. However, Tamaqua's supporting cast came up huge during the gutsy victory. Nate MacDonald scored eight points, including a handful of offensive rebounds, as Russell Blaker continued to show his emergence as a scoring threat with a game-high 13 points. Blaker hit two treys and shot 75 percent from the foul line during the win."Nate has given us so much all year long. On November 17th I wasn't even sure if he was coming out for the team," explained the Tamaqua coach." Nate being here gives us that extra big guy and he's a great defender. He was huge for us; we needed him to step up because they were doubling Brett (Kosciolek). We found a way at times to get him the ball and score. He's a hard working blue-collar player who gets those loose balls and rebounds. Those are kinds of contributions that get us 20 wins for the year."Kosciolek said of Blaker, "He's been struggling lately and I've been on him at practice this week. I told him before the game that we need him to step up, not hesitate, and take the ball to the basket. He did a really nice job of scoring for us. He played with a ton of confidence."Tamaqua will face familiar Schuylkill League foe Pottsville on Tuesday in the semifinals round at Minersville at 7:30 p.m.NO. SCHUYLKILLCarney 1-0-0-3, Murray 4-2-2-10, Mazur 1-0-0-2, Mercado 2-1-2-5, Mazeika 0-0-0-0, Jordan 1-1-4-3, Heaton 4-0-1-10. TOTALS: 13-4-9-33TAMAQUAShilko 0-0-0-0, Blaker 4-3-4-13, Miller 0-0-0-0, Rottet 2-3-6-7, Wassell 0-0-0-0, Zuber 0-2-3-2, MacDonald 4-0-0-8, Murphy 0-0-0-0, Skripko 0-0-0-0, Kosciolek 3-2-2-9. TOTALS: 13-10-15-39.N. Schuylkill 6 6 8 13 - 33Tamaqua 6 9 8 16 - 39Three-pointers: NS - Heaton 2, Carney 1; T - Blaker 2, Kosciolek 1.