It's well known that Pottsville plays great team defense.

The latest opponent to discover this fact first-hand was Lehighton.Saturday night, the Crimson Tide used their staple to overcome some poor early shooting and eventually defeat Lehighton, 58-38, in a Schuylkill League Division I match-up.In the first half of the contest, both sides suffered through cold shooting from the floor as Pottsville moved out to a 19-14 lead at the break. The Tide made six of 25 field goals (24 percent) while Lehighton connected on five of 20 attempts (25 percent). While both sides were getting some high percentage shots, some of the Indians' misfortune was due to the defensive ability of the Tide."We knew we had to keep Crum and Knappenberger off of the three-point line, " said Pottsville assistant coach John Toomey. "They are both dangerous players, offensively, with quick releases, so we knew we had to do that in order to be successful."The Tide (12-0, 6-0), who went seven deep on their bench, gave fits to the Tribe duo, limiting their touches and yielding no room to maneuver offensively. Crum finished with 17 points, while Knappenberger had eight (two treys), but a majority of their points came from penetration and the free-throw line."The tradition with Pottsville basketball and everything in Coach Mulaney's program starts with our defense," Toomey said..Early on, both teams were cold, as the two sides battled to a 6-6 tie after one. However the victors went on a 5-0 run to start the second and held a 19-14 lead at the break.Jordan Melochick scored eight of his game-high 19 points in the first half for Pottsville. Nick Chambers and Tyler Crum both had five to keep things close.In the second half, the winners seemed to figure out a solution to their shooting woes as they connected on 17 of 28 attempts (61 percent). Meanwhile, the Indians continued to have a difficult time with the Tide defense, connecting on 35 percent of their field goals.The two sides traded baskets for a majority of the third until Travis Blankenhorn created a six-point spurt on his own, turning a 31-25 lead into a 12-point swell with under two minutes left in the third. By the end of the session, the Tide was up 42-28.A Jordan Knappenberger triple and two charity tosses by Crum cut the deficit to 42-34, but the winners outscored the Tribe 16-4 the rest of the way to remain undefeated on the year."We missed some front ends of one-and-one situations, but I thought we played well," said Lehighton head coach Rich Oertner. "Pottsville is just a good team and they function well together. We had trouble making shots and at the free throw line. But defensively, they were pretty hard to stop tonight."Other than Melochick's 19, Blankenhorn was the only other Tide player to reach double figures with 12.Outside of Crum's 17, Chambers had a nice outing with 11.WIth the loss, Lehighton drops to 9-4 overall and 2-4 in the league.POTTSVILLEHinchliffe 3-2-2-8, Painter 1-0-0-3, Blankenhorn 5-2-3-12, Dunkel 1-0-0-2, Melochick 7-4-4-19, Witman 1-0-0-2, Abdo 3-1-2-8, Nabholz 2-0-0-4. TOTALS: 23-9-11-58.LEHIGHTONCrum 5-7-9-17, Zwetolitz 0-0-0-0, Williams 1-0-0-2, Chambers 5-0-3-11, Knappenberger 3-0-0-8, Greene 0-0-2-0. TOTALS: 14-7-14-38.Pottsville 6 13 23 16 - 58Lehighton 6 8 15 9 - 38Three pointers: P - Painter 1, Melochick 1, Abdo 1; L - Knappenberger 2, Chambers 1