Effort and pace.

Pine Grove came out of the gates with a hard-nosed, up-tempo game plan against Panther Valley on Tuesday night in a Schuylkill League Division 1 showdown.

That approach by the Cardinals helped them solidify a 13-point lead at intermission, and led to an eventual 69-47 road victory over the Panthers in the “black hole.”

“Super proud of our guys tonight. We needed a game where we had high energy for all four quarters and we got that tonight from our guys,” said Pine Grove coach John Rizzo. “And credit to Coach Crampsie and the program he has built here. This is such a tough place to play. I don’t think any Schuylkill League team likes to come in here.

“We knew in order to get a win here, that we had to play physical and intense basketball for four quarters, and our guys stepped up and did that tonight.”

Panther Valley did its best to stay close to Pine Grove in the first quarter, trailing by just three (18-15). However, the Cardinals got off to a hot start from beyond the arc, which paid dividends for them as the game went on, hitting three three-pointers in the first.

The Cardinals stayed hot in the second quarter, hitting three more from deep, while outscoring the Panthers 24-14 in the period. Pine Grove’s pressure defense also got to PV in the second, as it forced six Panthers’ turnovers.

The impressive shooting effort, paired with their pressure defense, helped the Cards hold a 42-29 advantage at the break.

Teagan Schneck-Haines had a nice first half for Pine Grove, leading the way with 13 points, including three triples. Tanner Kolb also had a productive first half with 12 for the Cards.

“It’s my job to have us ready, and for whatever reason we just didn’t seem ready to roll tonight. That’s on me,” said Panther Valley coach Pat Crampsie. “They came out and punched us in the mouth right off the bat, and we just never were able to respond.

“After the weekend we just had, after we played really well, it’s definitely disappointing, but we need to get back to work. Everything just seemed sluggish tonight. Our defense in general, our perimeter defense, our close outs and they outworked us on the boards. And then we had trouble finishing any of our shots on offense as well.”

Not much changed for either team in the third quarter. The Cardinals continued to force PV miscues with its pressure defense forcing five more in the third.

Back-to-back buckets from Hayden Felty, who had six in the frame, got Pine Grove off to a good start, spurring an 8-0 run at the beginning of the third, extending the Cardinals lead to 48-31.

Pine Grove entered the fourth with a commanding 56-37 advantage.

In the fourth, the hole was just too deep for the Panthers to crawl out of. After cutting the deficit to 15, two more quick inside buckets by Pine Grove big man Wyatt Snyder pushed the lead back to 19. Just a few minutes later, the reserves entered for both squads.

“We know we have an athletic group of guys. And that’s what we try to utilize to try and win basketball games. And then also tonight we were able to knock down some shots,” said Rizzo.

“Also, I thought coming up with some key offensive boards that gave us extra possessions and key 50-50 balls made a difference for us as well.”

LEADING SCORERS … Felty scored a game-high 16 points for the Cardinals. Danny Wehr was the only Panthers’ player in double figures, with 10.

FROM THE FIELD … Pine Grove shot the ball incredibly well in the first half. The Cardinals went 6-for-14 from three, and were 15-for-31 overall from the field. PV struggled to knock down shots, going 2-for-19 from three, and 11-for-21 from the charity stripe.

PINE GROVE

Hitz 1 1-2 3, Smeltz 1 0-0 3, Fairell 0 0-2 0, Hannevig 3 1-2 7, Kimmel 0 0-0 0, Witmer 1 2-4 4, Shanahan 0 0-0 0, Schneck-Haines 4 2-4 13, Herber 1 0-0 2, Felty 7 1-3 16, Kolb 7 0-1 15, Lyons 0 0-0 0, Snyder 3 0-1 6. TOTALS: 28 7-19 69.

PANTHER VALLEY

Moyer 2 1-1 5, Crampsie 1 0-0 3, McArdle 2 2-4 6, Breiner 2 4-6 8, Mitchell 1 0-0 2, Wehr 4 1-2 10, Munoz 1 0-0 2, Thomas 2 3-8 7, Maynard 1 0-0 2, Williams 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 17 11-21 47.

Pine Grove 18 24 14 13 - 69

Panther Valley 15 14 8 10 - 47

Three-pointers: Pine Grove - Schneck-Haines 3, Felty 1, Kolb 1, Smeltz 1; Panther Valley - Wehr 1, Crampsie 1.

Records: Pine Grove (7-12; 3-8); Panther Valley (7-10; 2-8).