Blue Mountain came into its game against Lehighton on Wednesday looking to dial it up from deep - and the Eagles did just that as their long distant charges went through the roof early in game.

Blue Mountain’s five triples in the first quarter helped it withstand a furious Indian run in the second half and escape with a 62-59 Schuylkill League Division 1 victory.

“I was a little worried getting off the bus, because our guys seemed a little lackadaisical. But they ended up proving me wrong in that first quarter,” said Blue Mountain head coach Dustin Werdt. “The guys came out and were aggressive, attacking the basket and we made some big shots, which got us off to the good start.”

Blue Mountain shot 5-for-8 from beyond the arc in the first quarter as it built a 23-11 lead. Elijah Feisel drained three triples in the quarter on just three attempts, and matched the Indians by himself with 11 points.

A barrage of Blue Mountain lay-ups capped off by a transition slam from Tyeirre Meade would stretch that lead to 34-15 midway through the second quarter.

But just when Lehighton looked down and out, it fought back.

Trailing by 19 points, the Tribe would go on a 12-0 run to help cut the deficit to 38-30 at halftime. Three big three-pointers from Cole Dietz, along with seven points from Blake Roberts helped Lehighton get back in it.

“In that second quarter, you could see our guys come out with more intensity. I’ve said this many times this season. This team doesn’t ever quit,” said Lehighton head coach Trevor Miller. “We were able to get it down to eight going into the half, and then in the second half we responded as well. We kept chipping away and chipping away.”

Chipping away is exactly what Lehighton did until it eventually grabbed its first lead of the game late in the third quarter on two John Light free throws that made it 46-45. But a three from Aiden Grace late the in third gave Blue Mountain a narrow 48-46 lead heading into the final quarter.

“I think we relied a little bit too much on taking outside shots in the second and third quarters, because of the success we had shooting the ball in the first quarter,” said Werdt. “I thought we settled for those shots a little bit

“Credit to Lehighton as well, they made it difficult to get the ball inside, where we also had some success early, and they were doing a good job of swarming the ball when we got it into that area.”

The fourth quarter was a back-and-forth affair.

With 1:12 remaining, it looked like Lehighton might have stole momentum for good when a hoop plus the harm on a Joe Roth glide to the rim gave the Tribe a 59-58 advantage.

Lehighton was then able to get a stop on the next possession and was on its way up the court with the ball when Blue Mountain committed a foul (fourth team foul) with less than a minute remaining. But an Indians player was charged with a technical foul during that exchange, sending the Eagles to the line for two foul shots and then possession of the ball.

Two made technical free throws by Grace put Blue Mountain back on top. The Indians were then forced to foul and another made free throw pushed the Eagles lead to 61-59 with 23.5 second left.

The ensuing Indians’ possession didn’t produce the look they wanted as they had to settle for a shot from the right baseline with the clocking winding down. The ball glanced off the rim and into a Blue Mountain player’s hands with just 1.7 seconds remaining. The Indians were forced to foul, and the Eagles closed out the scoring with one more free throw

“Offensively, our ball movement got better as the game went on and we were setting more physical screens as well,” said Miller. “When we did that, we were able to get some better looks ... and eventually we gave ourselves a chance at the end.”

LEADING SCORERS… For the Eagles, Feisel led the way with 18 points, including five triples. Meade added 14 and big man Isaac Thomas scored 12. For the Indians, Dietz scored a game-high 21 points, including four three-pointers. Roth and Roberts each added 12.

THE RECORDS … Blue Mountain improves to 14-1 overall and 8–1 in league play. Lehighton falls to 10-5 overall and 3-5 in the league.

BLUE MOUNTAIN

Meade 5 4-4 14, McGhee 1 0-0 2, Baldwin 0 0-0 0, Brayford 0 0-0 0, Heim 2 0-0 5, Grace 2 2-2 8, Miller 1 1-2 3, Feisel 6 1-2 18, Thomas 5 2-5 12. TOTALS: 22 10-15 62.

LEHIGHTON

Serfass 0 3-4 3, Light 1 0-0 3, Johnson 3 1-2 8, Roberts 4 4-6 12, Roth 5 2-3 12, Dietz 8 1-1 21. TOTALS: 21 11-16 59.

Blue Mountain 23 15 10 14 - 62

Lehighton 11 19 16 13 - 59

Three-pointers: BM - Heim 1, Grace 2, Feisel 5; L - Johnson 1, Dietz 4.