POCONO SUMMIT - With how well Pocono Mountain West has played this season it appeared to be just a matter of time before they got their engines warmed up against Lehighton on Tuesday.

It took them a little more time than they would've liked, but the Panthers, whom were up seven with 3:40 left in third, went on a 12-0 run to bust the game open. That late third quarter run helped the Panthers gain an 82-51 victory over the Tribe in the semi-finals of the Mountain Valley Conference playoffs.Until then, coaching strategy and scrappy play by the undersized Indians kept the game close. Offensively, the Indians were charged by the inside scoring of Vince Mele, who made every one of his five shots on the night, and the outside shooting of Tyler Crum and Jordan Knappenberger. Defensively, it was a pesky triangle and two defense that gave the Panthers some fits, but in the end the Panthers depth and athleticism prevailed."Our plan was to defend Singh and Wiggins from scoring their usual 20 apiece and we did a pretty good job there," said Indians' coach Rich Oertner. "But they are so deep and talented, and even when they were not shooting well, their offensive rebounding gives them second and third chances."From the tip, it seemed that the Panthers were going to blow Lehighton out of the gym. Joe Wiggins full court layup pushed West to a 12-2 start. But Mele's put back with 2:30 left in the first quarter capped a 10-4 Indians' uprising to climb within four at 16-12. However, the Panthers scored seven of the quarter's final eight points to build a 10- point advantage.In the second quarter, West's run and gun pace slowed a bit, which allowed the Indians to maintain more ball control with longer possessions. Led by Mele's three baskets and three-pointers by Knappenberger and Crum, Lehighton closed the gap to 29-25 at the five minute mark. Lance Singh's long trey and Royce Brathwaite's spinning layup brought the Panther lead back to nine points with two minutes to go. Lehighton trailed by just 10 at the break.Then came the decisive third quarter.Seven Panthers helped pace a balanced scoring attack. Forever Archer's tip in, following three Lehighton missed shots put West ahead by 11 with 2:30 to go and Wiggins' steal and full court driving layup gave his team a 57-40 cushion with one minute remaining."We didn't panic when they closed the gap," said PMW coach Brad Pensyl. "We knew they had real good shooters and that they had nothing to lose tonight. And they handled our pressure really well too, but our offense is set up to distribute the ball to any open man because we have so many good shooters.""We did break their press most of the time, but we just didn't shoot well enough," said Oertner. "They're very athletic and got too many lay ups on us and when they did miss, they beat us on the boards. We could've used a big man underneath to help offset their size advantage."In the fourth quarter, the depth advantage for West, who will now play Stroudsburg in an attempt for a "fourpeat" of league titles, was even more apparent. On the night, nine of the ten Panthers who saw action scored and five hit double figures. Lehighton was led by Crum who put up 14, followed by Knappenberger who scored 12 and Mele who added 10 points.The game capped a first and a last for Lehighton. It was the first time in school history that the Indians had qualified for the league playoffs and it was their last Mountain Valley Conference game because next year they will compete in the Schuylkill League.LEHIGHTONRossino 2-2-4-6, Farano 3-2-2-8, Mele 5-0-0-10, J. Knappenberger 3-5-5-12, Crum 5-1-2-14, Chambers 0-1-2-1, McCandless 0-0-0-0, Williams 0-0-0-0, Zwetolitz 0-0-0-0, Ruzika 0-0-0-0,K. Knappenberger 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 18-11-15-51.PM WESTJ. Wiggins 5-2-2-13, Cooper 6-0-0-14, Archer 3-0-0-6, Howard 1-0-0-3, I. Wiggins 3-0-0-7, Brathwaite 3-2-2-10, Simon 2-0-0-4, Singh 5-0-0-13, Field 5-2-2- 12, Hardy 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 33-6-6-82.Lehighton 13 17 12 9 - 51PM West 23 17 22 20 - 82Three-pointers: L- J. Knappenberger 1, Crum 3; PMW- J. Wiggins 1, Cooper 2, I. Wiggins 1, Singh 3, Brathwaite 2, Howard 1.