POTTSVILLE – The Mecca, where the lights are bright and the stage is big — especially around this time of the year. It’s where high school basketball players dream of taking center court, and where the champions are crowned.

Tamaqua has enjoyed plenty of high moments this season, but none of them have come against powerful Pottsville. For the third time this season, the Blue Raiders fell to the Crimson Tide.

Friday’s night game before a paid attendance of 2,631 at Martz Hall — or the Mecca as it is affectionately known — was the most important of the three meetings, and the way the Blue Raiders came out of the blocks, this one looked like it might be different than the previous two.

But Pottsville eventually settled down and rolled to a 58-46 victory, capturing its third straight Schuylkill League championship in the process.

Tamaqua shot a perfect 6-for-6 from the field in the first quarter, yet it still couldn’t zap the Tide, who rallied from a 12-8 deficit to creep in front 13-12 by quarter’s end.

“Right at the beginning, they spread us out,” said Pottsville coach Dave Mullaney. “They worked on a couple of backdoor layups.”

The main go-to guy for the Raiders early in the game was Lucas Gregoire, who juiced the twines for eight points in the quarter.

But the Tide quickly clamped down defensively and took away Gregoire’s inside fun. The Raiders tried to counter behind Brayden Knoblauch, who drained the first of his six triples to put his team ahead 15-13 with 7:48 remaining in the second quarter.

But Tamaqua missed its next 15 shots and didn’t score another point until Barron Stauffenberg stuffed in a drive with 18 seconds to play before the half.

Pottsville took advantage of the Tamaqua dryspell behind a cluster of offensive personal as Kevin Schenk, Mason Barnes, and Raeff Dicello were supplying the fuel that led to a 18-point run.

“They dug in and turned up the intensity on defense,” Jim Barron the Tamaqua coach said. “There was a four minute span where we kept turning it over.

“You know for 28 minutes I think we played them even. But that four minute span of the second quarter … I have no problem with our other 28 minutes.”

Pottsville seem to have a total handle on the outcome during the third quarter as it took what seemed like a commanding 47-32 lead entering the final chapter.

But Tamaqua pulled up its boot straps, and flung together a flurry of points thanks to Knoblauch, Nico Bolletino, Sean Lavine, and Gregoire to slice the lead to 51-43 with a little over three minutes to play.

Just when the Raiders seemed to regain their balance, the gifted Tide regrouped when Schank drained a trey, and added a deuce on an uncontested drive before Barnes finished it off with two free throws.

“We don’t talk about goals, we just want to win the division and get in the Schuylkill League playoffs,” Mullaney said. “If we can continue to get better, we know we have enough talent to get the end result.”

BOARD WORK … Raiders played tough out-rebounding Pottsville, 22-21. Gregoire had a huge night with 14 rebounds, eight off the offensive glass.

SHOOTING STARS … Knoblauch had a terrific shooting night to take done game honors with 20 points. He missed only three shots from the floor all night.

WHERE TO NEXT … Tamaqua should be the No. 3 seed in District 11 Class 4A playoffs and meet Pine Grove in their opening game next Friday.

TAMAQUA

Verta 0-0-0-0, Knoblauch 7-0-0-20, Bolletino 3-0-0-8, Boyle 0-0-0-0, N. Gregoire 0-0-0-0, L. Gregoire 5-1-1-11, Stauffenberg 2-0-0-5, Lavine 1-0-0-2. TOTALS: 18-1-1-46.

POTTSVILLE

Schenk 4-0-0-10, Heimbaugh 2-0-0-5, Barnes 5-3-5-15, Dicello 6-1-2-14, Yost 0-0-0-0, Stanton 2-0-0-6, Salata 4-0-1-8. TOTALS: 23-4-8-58.

Tamaqua 12 5 15 14 - 46

Pottsville 13 18 16 11 - 58

Three-pointers: Tamaqua - Knoblauch 6, Bolletino 2, Stauffenberg 1; Pottsville - Schenk 2, Barnes 2, Stanton 2, Heimbaugh 1, Dicello 1.