The transition from barnburner to blowout can happen quickly.

"In the blink of an eye," is how Panther Valley coach Pat Crampsie described it after watching Lehighton rout his Panthers, 62-30, on Friday night.The Indians, who found themselves in a struggle with the underdog Panthers during the first half, quickly ended the suspense in the third quarter.Lehighton opened the quarter with a 12-0 spurt and PV never recovered."We made a couple of adjustments at halftime," said Indian coach Rich Oertner. "I thought the biggest one was going to our 2-3 zone. We played some man and also used our 1-3-1 trap in the first half."But the 2-3 is our best defense and that helped us open things up in the second half."Panther Valley struggled to score against the zone and Lehighton used its height advantage to dominate the boards and run the court in the third quarter.The result was a number of easy baskets as the Indians put together a stretch where they hit 8 of 10 shots. Meanwhile, the Panthers went ice cold as they started the second half 1-for-21 from the floor."The first couple minutes of the third quarter was obviously huge," said Crampsie. "We had a couple of three-pointers rim out, we missed a layup, and they got some baskets in transition. I looked up at the scoreboard and all of a sudden we were down 17 points."Everything just snowballed on us. But that can happen when you're playing a good team. Lehighton played really well in second half."By the end of the third quarter, the Indian lead had grown to 48-24. Hunter Greene and Damian Mele led the charge for the Indians with six points apiece in the period."I don't think we executed very well offensively in the first half, but at the same time we missed some easy shots," said Oertner. "In the second half, we moved the ball better and got much cleaner looks."GETTING TECHINICAL ... The game was tied at 15-15 in the second quarter when the Panthers received a technical foul that resulted in two made free throws and possession of the ball. An Andre McDowell triple made it a virtual five-point play for the Indians. "We played with a lot of intensity and emotion in the first half," said Crampsie. "There was a little back and forth going on and we got hit with the technical. It was disappointing, but that's a learning experience for our kids."INDIAN RAMPAGE ... At one point in the game, Lehighton went on a 32-4 run, turning a 25-20 lead into a 57-24 advantage.BALANCING ACT ... Greene led Lehighton with 16 points. McDowell added 11, Tanner Zwetolitz had 10, Nick Chambers chipped in nine and Mele finished with eight points. "The offensive numbers were nice, but our defense was the difference," said Oertner. "The best teams in this league like Pottsville and Blue Mountain win with their defense. We want to get to that point."MICHOLIK IS THE MAN .... Panther Valley's Anthony Micholik had an impressive first half to keep his team in the game. Micholik hit three three-pointers and scored 13 of PV's 20 firsst half points.RECORD UPDATE ... Lehighton improves to 10-4 overall and 5-3 in the league. The Indians are now one win away from clinching a District 11 playoff berth. Panther Valley falls to 3-10 overall and 1-6 in Schuylkill play.PANTHER VALLEYFiguero 1-0-2-3, Rodriguez 0-0-0-0, Stanko 1-0-0-2, Micholik 5-2-4-15, Miller 1-0-0-2, Hudicka 0-2-2-2, Mehmeti 0-0-0-0, Fisher 0-0-0-0, Blasko 2-0-0-4, Perez 0-0-0-0, Emmert 0-0-0-0, Morgans 1-0-0-2. TOTALS: 11-4-8-30.LEHIGHTONTroxell 1-0-0-3, Carpenter 1-0-0-3, Schaeffer 0-0-0-0, McDowell 4-2-2-11, Zwetolitz 3-2-2-10, Mele 4-0-1-8, Howland 1-0-0-2, Venuto 0-0-0-0, Chambers 4-1-4-9, Greene 5-4-4-16. TOTALS: 23-9-13-62.Panther Vy. 10 10 4 6 - 30Lehighton 11 16 21 14 - 62Three-pointers: PV - Micholik 3, Figuero 1. L - Greene 2, Zwetolitz 2, Troxell 1, Carpenter 1, McDowell 1.