The Schuylkill League battle between Lehighton and Panther Valley Friday night was truly a tale of two halves.

The tempo of the first half was slow, as Lehighton went into intermission holding a 17-16 advantage.After break, it was the visiting Indians who sped it up, went on an absolute tear, and defeated the Panthers, 64-36."We were happy at halftime and we felt good about the pace," said Panther Valley head coach Patrick Crampsie. "We wanted to make sure we covered their shooters and kind of laid off some of their other guys. It worked for a whil."Lehighton received some momentum in the second quarter from Steven Jackson. The junior scored six points, added a steal, and took two gutsy charges on back-to-back defensive possessions."That was key, it kept us in the game for some degree," noted Lehighton head coach Rich Oertner. "In the second half, he (Jackson) got to the basket nice and had a few layups."Lehighton was on fire after halftime.The Indians kicked off the third frame by ripping off a 15-0 run and hit their first seven shots from the floor behind the sharpshooting of Andre McDowell."Andre (McDowell) has been more of a bright light shooting the ball than we initially thought," said the Lehighton coach. "Tanner (Zwetolitz) is our best shooter but he's been in a slump the first four games; Andre picked the pace up for us. He has played much better than we expected this year that's for sure."Hunter Greene put the game out of reach in the final frame. The senior scored eight points within the first three minutes of the quarter and went on to score a game-high 17 points."We didn't say whole lot at half," Oertner said. "I encouraged them to shoot the ball more."As Lehighton's confidence built, PV's seemed to diminish as the game carried on."When they (Lehighton) got hot and knocked down a few three's that affected us on the offensive end," explained Crampsie. "We talk all the time about having a short memory and fighting every position - I definitely thought we lost focus. We let previous plays affect our current plays and you can't do that against a team like Lehighton. At times, we let too many things affect us that are out of our control. We played weak, mentally and physically tonight."It's not certain what fueled Lehighton's fire at halftime, but an educated guess would point the finger at Jackson's fearless defensive attitude in the second quarter."We had to work hard and play hard," Jackson said. "We played soft in the first half, but came back out in the second half and played much better."SCORCHING HOT… After scoring just 17 in the first two quarters, the Indians put together a 47-point second half. Lehighton was 17-for-26 from the floor during the hot sequence.OFFENSE OUT OF DEFENSE… Lehighton earned extra possessions in third quarter by switching up its defensive scheme and cashing in on easy buckets. Oertner's squad held PV to just 30 percent shooting during the win. "We were a little flat, but Panther Valley played pretty well in the first half," Oertner said. "Our 1-3-1 didn't work very well in the first half. We changed our defense in the second half to a 3-2 trap and we got a lot of layups, which changed the whole complexion of the game. Plus, we made some shots in the second half."COLLECTIVE EFFORT… Despite offense being scarce at times on Friday, Panther Valley had nine different players register points during the win.Crampsie said, "We were worried at the offensive end at halftime, at times we weren't aggressive. At times we are a tough and resilient group and we need to develop that consistency."LEHIGHTONTroxell 1-2-2-5, Carpenter 0-0-0-0, Schaeffer 0-2-2-2, McDowell 5-1-2-13, Zwetolitz 2-0-0-6, Jackson 6-0-1-12, Mele 1-2-4-4, Howland 0-0-2-0, Chambers 2-1-2-5, Greene 6-2-2-17. TOTALS: 23-10-17-64.PANTHER VY.Figueroa 1-2-2-4, Rodriguez 0-0-0-0, Stanko 1-0-0-3, Micholik 2-0-0-5, Miller 3-0-0-6, Hudicka 1-0-0-3, Mehmeti 1-0-0-3, Fisher 0-0-0-0, Blasko 3-0-0-6, Emmert 0-1-2-1, Morgans 2-1-1-5. TOTALS: 14-4-5-36.Lehighton 7 10 26 21 - 64Panther Vy 7 9 10 10 - 36Three-pointers: Lehighton - Troxell 1, McDowell 2, Zwetolitz 2, Greene 3. PV - Stanko 1, Micholik 1, Mehmeti 1, Hudicka 1.