Coming into the season, Leigh Keenan knew that if his team was to succeed, it needed to believe it could.

Keenan, now in his second year as the head coach of the Palmerton boys' basketball team, felt confident that if the Blue Bombers got a taste of success early, memories of last season's 3-19 finish would quickly be washed away.After claiming its first win of the season against Northwestern on a last second Ben Weber put back less than 24 hours earlier, Palmerton kept the momentum going by earning a 64-44 non-league victory over Panther Valley on Saturday afternoon.Despite the quick turnaround, Keenan admitted the pervious night's triumph gave the Blue Bombers the edge they needed against the Panthers."It was huge. I don't know if we would have won today if we wouldn't have won last night," he said. "It just showed that we're capable of taking that extra step."Last year, we didn't have a winning mentality. But I think things have changed this year, and we needed a nitty-gritty, fighting, back-and-forth type of game today to prove it."Palmerton (2-2) started strong, opening the game on a 10-0 run before Panther Valley's Ethan Vermillion, who finished with a team-high 16 points, hit a three-pointer with 3:47 to go in the first quarter.The Panthers (1-3) were able to cut the deficit to three at 14-11 by the end of the quarter on the strength of Vermillion's nine points in the frame, and the surge continued early in the second quarter when Matt Hudicka tied the game at 16-16, and Chad Dubosky gave PV the lead at 18-16.But the advantage was short lived, as Weber began to get into a rhythm from behind the arc.After scoring just two points in the first quarter, the 6-5 senior drained the first of his three three-pointers in the second to put the Blue Bombers ahead 19-18, a lead they would never relinquish."I knew that we just had to stick together and play as a team," Weber said. "After (winning) last night, we knew we were capable of doing it again today."The ability to take over a game is something Keenan knows Weber, who finished with 21 points, has the potential to do."Like all shooters, you have to make one," Keenan noted. "It doesn't matter how many you shoot before that; once you get that first one, you'll stay confident."And that's the way he is. He's a streaky shooter, a great shooter. The guys gave him the confidence to shoot, and he took advantage of it."Palmerton also got nice performances from Mark Quinn (13 points) and Spencer Hay (10 points) in what proved to be a well-rounded effort.Panther Valley managed to get within seven points at 39-32 early in the third quarter before Weber responded with back-to-back threes to put the game out of reach."I think we had a few lapses where we lost Weber a couple of times in transition and that can't happen," said Panther Valley head coach Pat Crampsie. "It was just a lack of communication at times and those lapses really killed us."They went on a few runs that really hurt us, and that was the game."Following an overtime victory over Shenandoah Valley on Friday night and a spirited effort against Palmerton on this day, the Panthers seem to be headed in the right direction."It's coming along. It's better than it was, but it's not where it needs to be," Crampsie said. "I thought today was better than last night. I'm glad we came out and our heads were where they needed to be."We came out and competed, and now we need to build on that."PALMERTONStahler 1-0-0-2, Hay 4-2-4-10, Svetik 1-0-4-2, Yaindl 0-0-0-0, Weber 8-0-0-21, Papay 0-0-0-0, Suto 1-1-2-3, Quinn 4-5-7-13, Rodrigues 1-0-1-2, Andress 0-0-0-0, Buck 1-1-2-3, Stasko 3-2-2-8. TOTALS: 24-11-22-64.PANTHER VALLEYKeo 0-0-0-0, Dubosky 3-0-0-6, Vermillion 6-1-1-16, Stanko 0-0-0-0, Micholik 1-0-0-3, Nase 1-0-2-2, Miller 1-0-0-2, Hudicka 4-0-0-9, Blasko 2-2-5-6, Eickoff 0-0-0-0, Weng 0-0-0-0, Emmert 0-0-0-0, Morgans 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 18-3-8-44.Palmerton 14 18 17 15 - 64Panther Vy. 11 11 12 10 - 44Three-pointers: P - Weber 5; PV - Vermillion 3, Micholik 1, Hudicka 1.