The Slatington Rotary Tournament is often a good venue for teams from both the Colonial and Schuylkill leagues to square off and get familiar with the competition from outside their conference - even though they’re not far apart geographically.

With Lehighton and Jim Thorpe both leaving the Schuylkill for the Colonial next school year, the tournament could look more like a CL version of the NBA’s in-season tournament.

In the last edition of interleague play at the event, host Northern Lehigh earned a 75-62 win over Jim Thorpe and Lehighton fended off Bethlehem Christian, 67-63, in Wednesday’s semifinal round of the annual boys basketball tournament. The Bulldogs and Inidans will meet tonight in the title game, with BC and JT playing a consolation game.

Lehighton-

Bethlehem Christian

Junior Joe Roth and sophomore Cole Dietz scored 20 points apiece in Lehighton’s 67-63 victory against Bethlehem Christian.

“Two different ways to score the ball,” said Lehighton head coach Trevor Miller. “Cole Dietz has been shooting the three well for us all year, and Joe is more of our inside presence. When you can get two guys, one guy scoring outside and inside, it’s a tough combo.”

Bethlehem Christian (4-4) made it a game and cut Lehighton’s lead to three late until a free throw by Blake Roberts secured the game for the Indians.

“One of the things about Bethlehem Christian in watching them on film is they can really shoot the ball,” Miller said. “I thought we needed to do a better job of guarding the three-point line. I thought we did a little bit better of a job of that in the second half.

“We had a little bit of a dry spell scoring the ball. I was happy overall with our effort. I thought we did some nice things at times. Down the stretch, I thought we did some silly things with turnovers, but it’s always nice to get out of here with the win.”

Dietz hit some key three-pointers to go along with a 20-point night.

“A lot of those are just open three’s from my teammates finding me or coming off a screen,” Dietz said. “We just do a really nice job of getting each other open.”

Lehighton improved to 7-3 with the win. The Indians seem well-prepared for their move to the Colonial League next year as they’ve gone 5-0 against teams from that circuit, having beaten Palmerton, Northern Lehigh, Catasauqua, Pen Argyl and Northwestern Lehigh.

Jim Thorpe-No. Lehigh

Freshman Kellen Bauer scored 22 points for Northern Lehigh in a 75-62 Bulldogs victory over Jim Thorpe.

Bauer was able to get through the Jim Thorpe defense and put up a big night for the Bulldogs to advance to the Slatington Rotary title game.

“We needed a confidence boost,” said Bauer. “We got a couple of freshmen starting now and a different coach. It started all in the offseason with two to three kids coming outside to practice in 95-degree heat. It’s going better than I expected. It’s nice to get our second win of the season.”

Connor Simms was the high scorer for the Bulldogs with 23 points. Northern Lehigh (2-7) scored its second victory of the season in head coach Robert Fahler Jr.’s first year at the helm.

“I love it, I do,” Fahler said. “I think some people look at it that you won one game, but the kids work so hard and I’ve been telling them that it’s all about growth. It’s not really about a win or loss, it’s about are we growing.”

Ben Goldberg led the Olympians (1-10) with 18 points. Pierce Gothard (15), Brody Schrantz (12) and Aaron Curran (10) joined Goldberg with double-digit scoring efforts.

“We came in pretty confident,” Jim Thorpe head coach Bryan Bednar said. “We knew it was going to be a pretty equal matchup. As the game progressed, we missed a lot of layups and shots. They started making layups and shots which wasn’t helping our cause. We got a little bit of a deficit. We tried and fought our way back and missed a lot of layups. We missed a lot from the perimeter and underneath.”

LEHIGHTON

Serfass 2-2-2-6, Light 0-0-0-0, Johnson 4-0-0-9, Roberts 5-1-2-12, Roth 8-4-5-20, Dietz 6-3-5-20. TOTALS: 25-10-14-67.

BETHLEHEM CHRISTIAN

Williams 6-3-4-16, G. Transue 5-1-1-12, Harris 2-2-2-8, Long 1-0-0-2, Rex 7-1-1-18, Wescoe 2-0-0-5, Kasper 1-0-0-2, J. Transue 0-0-0-0, Primrose 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 19-6-7-63.

Lehighton 19 15 23 10 - 67

Bethlehem Christian 14 12 23 14 - 63

Three-pointers: Lehighton - Dietz 5, Johnson 1, Roberts 1; Bethlehem Christian - Rex 3, Harris 2, Wescoe 1, Williams 1.

JIM THORPE

Barile 0-0-0-0, Domski 1-0-0-3, Goldberg 7-0-0-18, Aa. Curran 3-4-5-10, Moore 2-0-0-4, Gothard 6-3-3-15, Schrantz 5-1-2-12. TOTALS: 24-8-10-62.

NORTHERN LEHIGH

Simms 9-4-7-23, Bauer 7-6-10-22, Smith 7-1-3-16, Buskirk 3-3-6-9, Daubert 1-2-2-5. TOTALS: 27-16-28-75.

Jim Thorpe 12 17 23 10 - 62

Northern Lehigh 19 17 20 19 - 75

Three-pointers: Jim Thorpe - Goldberg 4, Domski 1, Schrantz 1; Northern Lehigh - Bauer 2, Daubert 1, Simms 1, Smith 1.