Lehighton's 69-60 win over Palmerton in Friday night's opener of the 34th Annual Slatington Rotary Basketball Tournament showed that the team was more than capable of grinding out a victory when it needed to.

In Saturday's title game against Jim Thorpe, the Indians showed that they could win with a little bit of flair, too.After working on getting the ball inside against the Blue Bombers, Lehighton found its shooting touch against the Olympians, connecting on 11 three-pointers en route to an 82-45 victory, giving the Indians their second straight title in the event."We played as well as yesterday (against Palmerton), but today we shot the ball well on top of it," said Lehighton head coach Rich Oertner. "I thought we hustled real hard yesterday and won the game on our hustle. Today, we hustled and we made shots."We made a couple extra passes and the guys were penetrating and kicking the ball out to the guy that was standing, waiting for the ball and it worked out well. When you're standing and shooting, it's a heck of a lot easier to make shots."Often times, it was the Indians' (7-1, 4-1) Jordan Knappenberger taking advantage of the open looks. The senior buried five three-pointers, three in the first half, on his way to a game-high 26 points and tournament MVP honors.Knappenberger's hot hand helped Lehighton surge ahead, 26-9, after the first quarter, which was aided by a 19-2 run to close out the opening eight minutes of play.Knowing the Olympians (4-6, 1-3) had a size advantage, Oertner was keen to make the most of any opportunities his Indians had."We're not a real big team, so we had to take what we could get," he said, "and pushing the pace was something that we wanted to do."And Lehighton was able to do just that by utilizing its depth.Though Knappenberger and Tyler Crum, who scored 21 points, were the only two in double figures, the Indians still benefited from contributions of several starters and reserves in what proved to be a well-rounded effort."Out goal is to win with five or six guys," said Oertner. "Tanner Zwetolitz (nine points) came in off the bench early and gave us a spark in the first quarter, knocking down a couple of knocking down a couple of threes."We have six guys that can play basketball, and real good basketball, at that."Lehighton's Tyler Williams scored nine points, while Nick Chambers added seven with both players earning All-Tournament honors.Knowing the focus can't always be on one player is something Knappenberger knows helps his game flourish."It's good when we spread the ball around because they can't just guard one of us," Knappenberger noted. "If they lock in on one of us, then we can dish it to other people and stretch them out."That ability to move the ball around is something Jim Thorpe head coach Jason McElmoyle admitted his team struggled to defend."We tried to limit their shots and limit their touches, but it seemed like if we'd take one away, someone else would step up and hit a three," he said. "There's not much you can do; they're a great shooting team."After trailing 46-21 at halftime, Jim Thorpe got to within 15 points at 46-31 early in the third quarter on the strength of a 10-0 run.But Lehighton responded with a 12-2 surge of its own late in the third, which was followed by a dominant fourth quarter in which the Indians outscored the Olympians 24-8.Shane Snisky's 17 points led Jim Thorpe. Rayan Green, who scored eight points, was selected to the All-Tournament Team along with Palmerton's Mark Quinn and Northern Lehigh's Tyshawn Golden.LEHIGHTONMcDowell 2-0-0-4, Ruzicka 0-0-0-0, Cordova 0-0-0-0, Crum 7-4-5-21, Zwetolitz 3-0-0-9, Ortiz 1-1-2-3, Williams 3-2-2-9, Chambers 3-1-4-7, Knappenberger 7-7-7-26, Greene 1-0-0-2, Skrincosky 0-1-2-1, Manogue 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 27-16-22-82.JIM THORPECarroll 2-0-0-5, Veney 1-0-0-2, Elmore 1-0-0-2, Micciche 3-0-0-7, Green 4-0-0-8, O. Snisky 1-0-0-2, Luciana 0-0-0-0, McElmoyle 0-0-0-0, Jefferson 1-0-0-2, S. Snisky 7-3-6-17, Twardzick 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 20-3-6-45.Lehighton 26 20 12 24 - 82Jim Thorpe 9 12 16 8 - 45Three-pointers: L - Knappenberger 5, Crum 3, Zwetolitz 3; JT - Carroll 1, Micciche 1.