MINERSVILLE - Pottsville and Tamaqua are very familiar with one another. Tuesday night's boys District 11 AAA semifinals clash marked the fourth meeting this season between the two teams.

Tamaqua ran its challenging 2-3 zone defense for most of the contest and forced Pottsville to shoot its way through it.Travis Blankenhorn's hot hand helped Pottsville do just that and propelled the Tide to an early lead. Blankenhorn scored the first eight Tide points on his way to a game-high 20 as Pottsville defeated Tamaqua, 50-35.Tamaqua had some early opportunities around the bucket, but shot just 25 percent from the floor in the first half. Blankenhorn ripped off 14 of the Tide's 19 first half points, but the Raiders' domination on the glass kept the deficit at just seven points heading into intermission."I liked our energy level early on and our zone defense was very good," said Tamaqua head coach Caszy Kosciolek. "Blankenhorn (Travis) simply hit some great shots which definitely hurt us. We didn't shoot well in the first half and that was a big part of the game. We got some good shots that just didn't go down."Pottsville was rolling on all cylinders after halftime.The Tide's furious man-to-man defense held the Raiders to just two field goals in the third quarter. Meanwhile, Pottsville was shooting 6-for-10 from the floor during the period."They took control of the game in the third quarter," said Kosciolek. "They did such a nice job of moving the ball and keeping the ball away from us."Pottsville head coach Dave Mullaney also seemed to be pleased with the way his squad attacked the Tamaqua defense."Anytime a team plays a 2-3 you know that you're going to get some open looks and you wan to encourage your guys to shoot when they get them," explained Mullaney.After shooting just 38 percent in the first half, Pottsville shot over 50 percent during the third and fourth quarters."We penetrated just enough to get some open looks in the corners which was something we emphasized," said Mullaney. "We tried to run some low post touches as well, but Brett (Kosciolek) makes it so difficult to pass there. Our guys were looking for cutters, but he changes the game inside because he's such a good athlete."We have such a great group, these seven seniors are such outstanding kids and we're very lucky to have them. They're unselfish kids who are all on the honor roll, and it's great to be undefeated as a coach with them. At the end of the year, I think we'll look back and be happy."Tamaqua's only lead was at 1-0 at the beginning of the contest following a Nate MacDonald foul shot. However, the Tide lead wasn't double figures until the big Pottsville third frame.Senior Bo Rottet led the Raiders with 17 points. Brett Kosciolek added 11.The Raiders will get another opportunity to advance to the state playoffs on Friday against Salisbury at 6 p.m. at Freedom High School."It's disappointing. You want to win and get to the District final, but you need to take a step back and realize that Pottsville is a good basketball team," coach Kosciolek said. "Our effort was there from the start until the end. I told the kids they have everything to be proud of as far as their effort for a full 32 minutes."We're proud of the fact that we've played them as tough as anyone on their schedule in our last two games against one another. That shows a lot about the character of our kids."TAMAQUAShilko 0-0-0-0, Blaker 0-0-0-0, Miller 0-0-0-0, Rottet 4-8-9-17, Zuber 0-0-0-0, MacDonald 1-1-2-3, Skripko 2-0-0-4, Kosciolek 5-0-0-11, Berezwick 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 12-9-11-35.POTTSVILLEHinchliffe 2-0-0-5, Painter 0-5-6-5, Blankenhorn 6-4-5-20, Melochick 2-3-4-8, Witman 0-0-0-0, Abdo 1-3-4-5, Nabholz 3-0-1-7. TOTALS: 14-15-20-50.Tamaqua 6 6 10 13 - 35Pottsville 10 9 17 14 - 50Three-pointers: T - Rottet 1, Kosciolek 1; P - Nabholz 1, Melochick 1, Hinchliffe 1, Blankenhorn 4