Coaches love to preach defense.

And Lehighton’s Trevor Miller is no exception.

While the Indians’ mentor craves an entire game of exceptional defensive, the effort his team gave during just one quarter on Friday night proved to be the difference in gaining a 53-40 Schuylkill League victory over visiting Tamaqua.

“I thought the second quarter we came out and kind of took it to them,” said Miller. “Defensively, I was very pleased. We gave up 16 points in the first quarter, which was unacceptable, but we made a couple of adjustments in that second quarter.

“We ended up allowing just three points in that quarter. I thought our pressure really lifted us defensively and offensively. One of the things we need to focus on ... is that defensively we need to get better every night. I think we took a step toward that in the second quarter, but we need to do it for 32 minutes.”

After the two teams played to a 16-16 tie in the opening period, Lehighton came out and pressured the Blue Raiders.

The move proved to be effective, as Tamaqua went 0-for-9 from the field and turned the ball over five times.

“We came out and I thought we were ready to play, but then they turned up the pressure and went to the 1-3-1 and started trapping us,” said Raider head coach Jim Barron. “You preach to take care of the ball, don’t turn the ball over, and we just continue to turn the ball over. Part of that was us being weak with the ball, and part of it was us being out of position and not getting to the right spots on the floor.

“We’ve practiced against a 1-3-1, and we tried to get people to where they needed to go but people were still out of position. It’s frustrating, but it’s things we need to work on and we have to get back in the gym and fix the mistakes.”

Zach Hunsicker’s three-pointer early in that second frame put the Indians (4-4; 4-2) ahead for good, and five quick points from Cassidy Schaeffer - including two on a steal and layup - triggered an 11-0 run that gave Lehighton a double-digit halftime lead.

A couple of inside buckets from Richard Yturrino early in the second half extended the Tribe’s advantage to 41-21 and it appeared the host team would coast to an easy victory.

But Tamaqua (0-11; 0-7) fought back gallantly, using a pair of three-pointers from Brady Sherry and a couple of baskets in the paint from Bobby Hollenbach to whittle the margin to 14 points heading into the final frame.

Sherry drilled two more treys in the fourth quarter to help cut the gap to 45-37 with five minutes remaining, but a 7-0 Lehighton burst - including a runner in the lane and a free throw from Dylan Guyn, who finished with a game-high 20 points - sealed the contest.

“If you take away that second quarter and the first minute of the third quarter, I think we kind of outplayed them,” said Barron. “But when you go in the tank for nine minutes, and they outscore us (by a huge margin) in that stretch, it’s just too much to overcome.”

The win ended a three-game losing streak for Lehighton, who returns to action this afternoon against Pine Grove.

“We made some foolish mistakes and we missed some layups (down the stretch),” said Miller. “But at the end of the day, we’ve been kind of on a bit of a slide here and coming out here and getting a W is what we wanted to do, and I’m happy we did.”

INDIAN LEADERS ... Guyn tallied 14 of his 20 points in the first half, and Schaeffer finished with 10. “He (Guyn) was feeling it tonight and our guys did a really good job of finding him,” said Miller. “Cassidy was out for a little bit, so he’s kind of just getting his legs now. He gave us points off the bench and defensively he was good. He was a huge help tonight.”

TOPS FOR TAMAQUA ... Sherry paced the Raiders with 17 points, with 14 coming in the second half. “He’s probably our best set shooter and we ran sets against their zone to get him open looks and he did a good job tonight catching the ball and knocking them down,” said Barron.

JV GAME ... Lehighton won the opener, 33-32. Ian Rarick led the Indians with seven points, while Steven Hoffman and Cian McLaughlin each had eight for the Raiders.

TAMAQUA

Lewis 1-0-1-3, Hoffman 0-0-0-0, Verta 1-1-2-3, Hollenbach 2-0-0-4, Davis 1-0-0-2, McLaughlin 0-0-0-0, Sherry 6-1-2-17, Andrews 0-0-0-0, Gregoire 2-1-4-7, Hope 2-0-1-4, Berg 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 15-3-10-40.

LEHIGHTON

Strauss 1-0-1-2, Lutz 0-1-2-1, Schaeffer 4-0-0-10, Lorenz 0-0-0-0, Yturrino 4-0-1-8, Hunsicker 3-1-2-8, Guyn 8-2-5-20, Rehrig 0-0-0-0, Costenbader 1-2-2-4. TOTALS: 21-6-13-53.

Tamaqua 16 3 12 9 - 40

Lehighton 16 14 15 8 - 53

Three-pointers: Tamaqua - Sherry 4, Gregoire 2, Lewis 1; Lehighton - Schaeffer 2, Guyn 2, Hunsicker 1.