Lehighton and Tamaqua followed familiar early-season routines.

The Indians started fast. The Raiders failed to start.Friday night, both teams took that to extremes.Lehighton scored the first 18 points of the game and went on to post a 64-41 Schuylkill League boys basketball victory."We've gotten off to good starts the entire season," Lehighton coach Rich Oertner said. "But tonight was definitely the best start we've had."We did a nice job on the offensive boards to get some second-chance points and we also hit some threes."The early Indian onslaught featured nine points directly off offensive rebounds and a pair of Tanner Zwetolitz triples.Tamaqua coach Jim Barron used three first-quarter timeouts to try and slow Lehighton down, but nothing seemed to work. By the time Russell Blaker scored the first Raider points with 1:41 left in the period, the damage had already been done."It seems like we've gotten off to slow starts all season," Barron said. "I think I've had to use a time out in the first two or three minutes of every game."I need to find some way to change that. We need to come out ready to go from the opening tap."The Raiders eventually made a run as three triples in the opening minutes of the third quarter, two by Zeke Wassell, cut the Lehighton lead to 39-29.But the Indians regrouped and reeled off 12 straight points to end any Tamaqua comeback hopes."When you build a big early lead like we did, you usually have to quell a couple of runs somewhere along the way," Oertner said. "We were a little sluggish in the second quarter and the beginning of the third, but I thought we did a nice job of finding an answer to their run and pulling away."One thing Tamaqua never found an answer for was the Indians' 6-4 power forward Hunter Greene. Greene had already compiled a double-double by halftime and finished the game with 15 points and 18 rebounds."Hunter was a monster on the boards," Oertner said. "He's not a great jumper, but he uses his body extremely well to get position. Tonight, he was the best player on the court. Tamaqua really didn't have anybody with the size to match up with him."Greene's 18 boards helped Lehighton to a massive 48-26 rebounding advantage."We knew we had a nice advantage inside," Oertner said. "Our game plan was to pound it down low and when we couldn't do that, we just told our kids to take the shot and then hammer the boards."HUNTER'S HELPERS ... Greene wasn't alone in having big numbers for the Indians as Zwetolitz added 12 points and five rebounds, Steven Jackson had eight points and six rebounds, and Nick Chambers had seven points and eight boards. Andre McDowell and Damian Mele both scored eight points as well.BEREZWICK IS BEST ... Just a few nights removed from hitting a game-winning shot at the buzzer to beat Panther Valley, Tamaqua's Joe Berezwick had another solid performance, leading his team with 11 points and seven rebounds.PUT BACKS ... Lehighton had 18 offensive rebounds, which led to 20 second-chance points. Greene had eight of those offensive boards.RECORD SETTER ... Lehighton improves to 6-1 overall and 3-0 in the league. Tamaqua drops to 0-6 overall and 0-3 in league play.TAMAQUABlaker 3-0-0-7, Wassell 3-0-0-8, Kurek 0-0-0-0, Zuber 2-2-2-7, Scott 0-0-0-0, Barr 0-0-0-0, Wargula 2-0-0-6, Rivera 0-0-0-0, Davidswon 1-0-0-2, Gregoire 0-0-0-0, Berezwick 4-1-2-11, Bates 0-0-2-0. TOTALS: 15-3-6-41.LEHIGHTONTroxell 0-0-0-0, Carpenter 0-0-0-0, Schaeffer 0-0-0-0, McDowell 3-2-2-8, Zwetolitz 4-0-0-12, Jackson 4-0-0-8, Mele 3-1-2-8, Howland 1-0-0-3, Chambers 3-1-3-7, Greene 7-0-2-15, Venuto 1-1-1-3. TOTALS: 26-5-10-64.Tamaqua 7 13 11 10 - 41Lehighton 21 13 17 13 - - 64Three-pointers: Tamaqua - Wassell 2, Berezwick 2, Wargula 2, Blaker 1, Zuber 1. Lehighton - Zwetolitz 4, Mele 1, Greene 1, Howland 1.