Jordan Knappenberger usually finds his comfort zone beyond the three-point line.

Last night, the Lehighton senior went 0-for-8 beyond the arc so he decided to drive to the basket instead.He scored 13 of his game-high 18 points by using his quickness to go instead giving the Indians a 13-point halftime lead en route to a 69-60 victory in the first game of the Slatington Rotary Boys Basketball Tournament.The Indians will meet Jim Thorpe in the championship game tonight at 8 p.m., while Palmerton will take on Northern Lehigh in the consolation game at 6:30."I thought we played real good," said Lehighton head coach Rich Oertner. "Jordan missed eight shots from behind the three-point line, but he made a bunch of layups. He's gotten smarter in that respect that when he's not shooting the ball well, he'll start going to the basket. And Jordan's pretty quick."We didn't see where their shooters were a bunch of times, and Palmerton has a few guys who can really shoot the ball. They made some shots, but we didn't play very good defense at times. We know who their shooters are, that's why we scouted them. We just didn't get on them and I'm surprised because we have a couple seniors who should know what's going on. But they don't put their head on a swivel and look for the ball."We played hard and made some mistakes. Palmerton played hard and made some mistakes, too. I think we have a good crew of six players that can all play and that's really to our benefit. We rotated guys pretty good tonight. Everybody was in and out the whole game and I think everybody was pretty fresh."The Bombers jumped out to an early 10-4 lead thanks to a couple of three-pointers by Ben Weber and buckets by Spencer Hay and Mark Quinn. The Indians went on an 8-0 run to end the first quarter with a couple of Knappenberger layups sandwiched in between a Nick Chambers layup and Tyler Williams bucket from the side to take a 12-10 lead.Matt Buck hit the first basket of the second quarter to help the Bombers tie the score, but the Indians ran off six straight to take the lead for good.The Bombers managed to cut it down to three at one point, but the Indians scored the final seven points of the half to take a 34-21 lead at intermission.The closest the Bombers could get in the third quarter was six points (40-34) with just under three minutes left. The Indians went on a 12-6 run to end the quarter to take a 52-40 lead into the final eight minutes.Palmerton used an 8-0 run in the first three minutes of the final stanza and pulled within 54-49, but the Indians answered with a 7-0 run of their own to go back up by 10 and the Bombers never recovered."We just didn't make enough plays, it's plain and simple" said Palmerton head coach Leigh Keenan. "We have to do a better job of communicating and staying together."It's a long season and we're still two games under .500. It's the most disappointing loss because that was a winnable game for us. We've got to stay together. We know how to play, but if we don't stay together, we're not going to beat anyone, no matter how good or bad they are.:Mark Chambers (14), Tyler Crum (12) and Tyler Williams (10) also hit double figures for Lehighton. Weber led the Bombers with 16, while Quinn added 15.LEHIGHTONRuzicka 3-0-0-7, Crum 6-0-0-12, Zwetolitz 2-2-2-8, Williams 5-0-0-10, Chambers 6-2-2-14, Knappenberger 6-6-7-18. TOTALS: 28-10-11-69.PALMERTONHAY 4-1-2-9, Blose 0-0-0-0, Svetik 2-0-0-6, Weber 6-0-0-16, Suto 2-2-2-8, Quinn 7-1-3-15, Rodrigues 0-0-0-0, Buck 0-3-4-3, Stasko 1-0-2-3. TOTALS: 22-7-13-60.Lehighton 12 22 18 17 - 69Palmerton 10 11 19 20 - 60Three-pointers: L - Zwetolitz 2, Ruzicka 1; P - Weber 4, Svetik 2, Suto 2, Stasko 1.