Rich Oertner knows his team is far from a finished product, with several new faces in new places.

But if a season-opening 58-31 win over Palmerton is any indication, the Lehighton head coach might be in line for more results like the one he got Friday night.“Honestly, we didn’t play real well in the first half, but you can attribute that to them. They played pretty good defense in the first half,” Oertner said of the Blue Bombers. “I think that they got a little tired, and that’s what it comes down to. The older you are, the stronger you are, the longer you’ll last.”The Indians (1-0) trailed 19-17 with 3:22 to play in the second quarter before going on a 13-0 run that lasted until late in the 1:55 mark in the third quarter to take a commanding 30-19 lead.“We shifted defenses and went back to something that we do well,” commented Oertner. “The guy that played well for us was Caine Carpenter. He ran around the whole game and never stopped.“It looked like we were playing a 1-3-1 but we were really playing a 3-2 – he was just all the way up going crazy.”Lehighton outscored Palmerton 17-2 in the third and held a 40-21 advantage after 24 minutes of play.“I thought we came out and played a pretty good first half,” said first year Bombers’ head coach Ken Termini. “And we talked about how Lehighton would crank it up in the second half and we just weren’t able to respond.“I thought our energy level went down and we lost our confidence a little bit. We stopped spacing the floor well. We stopped moving the ball well. We stopped attacking the middle with the balance and the pass. And when you add all those in, it means you’re out of position and there’s a high likelihood you’re going to give up turnovers, and that’s exactly what happened. We started turning it over, they were scoring in transition and that’s their game. We did a decent job of limiting that in the first half; we did not do a decent job of limiting that in the third quarter.”Addison Howland scored eight of his 13 points in the third quarter for the Indians, while Andre McDowell recorded seven of his 10 points in the third period.Lehighton’s Damian Mele led all scorers with 17 points. Mele scored 13 in the first half to help the Indians to a 23-19 advantage at the break.“Damian kept us in the game in the first half,” Oertner said. “He has been playing well in the preseason, and he’s a senior. Seniors are supposed to play well.Nate Dougherty scored 10 points for the Blue Bombers (0-1).YOUTH MOVEMENT… Palmerton had just one senior (Joey Suto) in the starting lineup. With two juniors, a sophomore, and a freshman in the lineup, Termini is hoping his team continues to gain confidence as the season goes on. “When you have young players, they tend to lose energy and confidence when the shots don’t fall,” said Termini. “And I think that, combined with all the good things Lehighton did, was the difference tonight.”HONORED… The 1955-56 Palmerton boys’ basketball team was honored with a ceremony before the game.LEHIGHTONTroxell 2-0-0-4, Carpenter 2-1-2-6, Schaeffer 2-0-0-5, McDowell 4-0-1-10, Buchinsky 0-1-2-1, Mele 6-4-4-17, Howland 5-1-3-13, Venuto 1-0-0-2, Motz 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 22-7-12-58.PALMERTONYacone 2-1-2-6, Dougherty 3-2-2-10, Baumgardt 1-0-0-3, Frace 0-0-0-0, Suto 1-0-0-2, Hosier 3-0-2-6, Yaindl 0-0-0-0, Silfies 1-0-0-2, Taschler 1-0-1-2, Geigle 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 12-3-7-31.Lehighton 8 15 17 18 - 58Palmerton 9 10 2 10 - 31Three-pointers: L – Howland 2, McDowell 2, Mele 1, Schaeffer 1, Carpenter 1. P – Dougherty 2, Yacone 1, Baumgardt 1.