Any high school basketball coach would dream of having a team that has balanced scoring and can score from both outside and inside the paint.

Trevor Miller’s Lehighton squad proved to be exactly that kind of team in Friday night’s 91-47 Colonial League victory over Northern Lehigh.

Five players scored in double figures for the Indians, led by Joe Roth’s game-high 23 points. Talin Fairchild added 20, Cole Dietz threw down 18, and Aiden Solt and John Light tallied 11 points apiece.

“We have multiple good shooters,” said Miller, “and when we’re healthy, we can run eight or nine players into the game, which is definitely an asset as the game goes on.”

The Tribe wasted no time jumping out to an early lead.

Within the first 51 seconds of the game, the score was 8-0 thanks to a pair of three-pointers by Solt and a driving layup by Roth.

Bulldog coach Bob Fahler called a timeout, and it appeared to settle down his team as Kellen Baur and Coy Daubert drained three-balls within the next 30 seconds to make the score 8-6.

The rest of the first period was a display of great outside shooting that featured a total of 10 threes, but Northern Lehigh found itself trailing by 10 points after the initial eight minutes, 28-18.

Lehighton continued its onslaught upon the basket at the start of the second period with a 12-2 flurry. All five starters contributed to the 19 points scored. Roth and Blake Roberts, who was playing in his first game of the season, controlled the offensive glass to give the Tribe second and third shots.

Fahler tried mixing up his defenses from various zones to man, but to no avail.

“We tried to shut down Roth and Dietz, but they are a really good team and they kept finding the open man for clear looks at the basket,” said Fahler.

Ahead by 22 at the half, there was no letup by the Tribe at the start of the third period.

They scored on threes, driving layups, banks, and putbacks for a 71-39 advantage heading into the final eight minutes.

With the mercy rule in effect, Lehighton was outscored the Bulldogs 20-7 in the final session for their runaway win.

“They kept beating us off the dribble,” said Fahler. “And we were gassed in the second half because we just don’t have the depth right now to give our starters much of a break.”

Bauer led the Bulldogs with 15 points, and Connor Simms added 14 in the loss.

Despite the convincing victory, Miller said that his team has areas to improve upon.

“I didn’t like the way we defended in the first period,” he said. “We made some small adjustments and our man-to-man got better. We also need to improve upon our defensive rebounding, and we’ll work on that in practice.”

RING OF HONOR … Before the game, Northern Lehigh honored long time coach, Brian Schell who coached several sports that included his 1988 District and State champion softball team. Ten of the team’s players were also present and honored at the ceremony.

BOMBS AWAY … Lehighton hit on 14 three-balls in the game, while Northern Lehigh had eight. Sixty-six points were scored from beyond the arc.

LEHIGHTON

Roth 9-5-5-23, Fairchild 7-0-0-20, Dietz 7-0-2-18, Solt 3-2-2-11, Light 5-0-0-11, Roberts 2-0-0-4, Blair 1-0-0-2, Meek 1-0-0-2. TOTALS: 34-7-9-91.

NORTHERN LEHIGH

Baur 6-1-2-15, Simms 5-2-3-14, Daubert 2-2-2-8, LoPinto 2-0-0-6, Karetsky 1-0-0-2, D. Smith 0-0-0-0, Z. Smith 0-0-0-0, Novicki 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 16-7-9-47.

Lehighton 28 19 24 20 - 91

Northern Lehigh 18 7 14 7 - 47

Three- pointers: Lehighton - Fairchild 6, Dietz 4, Solt 3, Light 1; Northern Lehigh - Simms 2, Bauer 2, Daubert 2, LoPinto 2.

Records: Lehighton (9-1; 6-1); Northern Lehigh (2-7; 2-4).