Taking care of the basketball is one of the critical keys to winning games.

Lehighton, without its injured point guard Brayden Johnson, struggled to limit its miscues on Tuesday against Schuylkill League Division 1 foe North Schuylkill.

The Indians’ turnover issues spurred numerous Spartan runs and helped North Schuylkill defeat the Tribe, 78-70.

“I thought we played good pressure defense, and we kept good pressure on the ball throughout the game,” said North Schuylkill head coach Will Bracey. “We knew their point guard, No. 13, probably wasn’t going to go, so they were going to be missing one of their best ball handlers.

“It was just a good team effort tonight on both sides of the floor, but again I was happy with our pressure defense.”

The Indians turned the ball over five times in the first quarter, but trailed by just two after one. However, in the second quarter, the Spartans pressure “D” would start to pay dividends.

Nine Tribe turnovers in the second helped leverage a 10-0 North Schuylkill run midway through the quarter, giving them a 29-18 advantage. Three consecutive buckets by Jack Keiter helped ignite the run.

Still, as they did throughout the night, the Indians were able to stay within striking distance as they trailed by seven at the break (33-26). Cole Dietz, with 10 points, and Owen Serfass with eight, kept Lehighton in it in the first half.

“When you play without your starting point guard, it’s always going to be tough,” said Lehighton head coach Trevor Miller. “We had to kind of reinvent our offense in just a few days. That’s not exactly the easiest thing to do at this point in the season.

“The guys that we tried there, they did a valiant job. I thought they did as good as could be expected. But against a team like North Schuylkill that pressures the ball both on and off the ball, it’s difficult. It’s a challenge when you do have a good point guard, let alone when you’re missing that player.”

At the start of the third, Lehighton put together a big run, closing the deficit to three. Back-to-back triples from Blake Roberts set up that run and a few plays later, it would be just a one-point NS advantage (44-43) with 2:17 to go in the quarter after a Dietz three.

But turnovers would once again hurt the Tribe, as they committed five in total in the third, with most of them coming late in the frame that helped kick off another Spartan 10-0 run. Once again, the Spartans were led by Keiter - who scored 12 points in the third. North Schuylkill’s strong finish put them up by nine (54-45) going into the fourth.

“That’s a good team we played tonight,” said Bracey. “And they have a lot of good young players. I’m glad they’re going over to the Colonial League next season.

“But, we just did a good job of staying even and balanced, and we weathered all of their runs, and we were able to answer their big shots with some big shots of our own. Keiter was phenomenal for us tonight. His shooting was good, but his vision was even better for us.”

The Indians got off to a good start at the onset of the fourth with a Dietz hoop-plus-the-harm to cut the Spartans lead to 54-48. But, once again, North Schuylkill responded - going on a 10-3 run with eight points coming from Jude Maziekas during that span to make it 64-51. The Indians would never get closer than eight the rest of the way.

LEADING SCORERS … Dietz had a big night, scoring a game-high 27 points, including five three-pointers. Joe Roth added 18, Roberts scored 12 and Serfass netted 11. For the Spartans, Keiter went for a team-high 26 points, and Zane Zulkowski helped out with 21.

THE RECORDS … Lehighton is now 13-7, and is in the No. 6 spot in the District 11 4A ratings. North Schuylkill improved to 14-6, and is the No. 4 spot in 4A.

UNDER PRESSURE … Johnson is dealing with a sprained ankle and is expected back this season. Lehighton committed 21 turnovers.

NORTH SCHUYLKILL

Keiter 9 6-10 26, Zulkowski 8 4-7 21, Flail 0 0-0 0, Miller 0 0-0 0, Maziekas 4 0-0 10, Rivera 4 0-0 8, Marcinowski 1 4-4 6, Mengel 3 0-0 7, Rogers 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 29 14-21 78.

LEHIGHTON

Serfass 3 3-3 11, Light 1 0-0 2, Hawk 0 0-0 0, Roberts 4 1-1 12, Meek 0 0-0 0, Roth 6 6-7 18, Dietz 10 2-3 27. TOTALS: 24 12-14 70.

North Schuylkill 18 15 21 24 - 78

Lehighton 16 10 19 25 - 70

Three-pointers: North Schuylkill - Keiter 2, Maziekas 2, Zulkowksi 1, Mengel 1; Lehighton - Dietz 5, Roberts 3, Serfass 2.