NORTHAMPTON — Lehighton hasn’t been at full strength for much of this season. But the Indians are now healthy at the right time, and it showed as they jumped on Wilson right from the start on Friday night.

The Tribe’s big first quarter on both ends of the floor helped them defeat the Warriors 50-26 for the District 11 4A quarterfinal victory.

Wilson (15-9) opened the game with a foul-line jumper from Zyad Darwish, but Lehighton (17-7) held the Warriors scoreless for the rest of the frame. The Indians’ offense got into a rhythm early, jumping out to a 12-2 lead halfway through the quarter. Two three-pointers from Cole Dietz and back-to-back buckets by Joe Roth ignited the run.

At the end of one, the Tribe held a 19-2 advantage with Dietz and Roth combining for 14 points. As a team, Lehighton shot 7-for-10 from the field in the first.

“In the game of basketball if you can get into a rhythm early, then that always takes care of a lot of things and goes a long way,” said Lehighton head coach Trevor Miller. “I thought we just executed really well tonight. We got really good looks and we got the shots that we wanted right from the start.”

Lehighton’s defense was also stifling in the first quarter. The Indians’ zone didn’t give the Warriors many open looks, forcing them to take contested shots.

“Any time you give up just two points in the first quarter or any quarter, you’re going to give yourself a chance to win every single time,” said Miller. “Coming in, we thought our zone was going to be something that they weren’t that familiar with, because we haven’t played it much this season. The goal of our zone tonight was to kind of just sink in the paint and stop the dribble penetration and we were able to do that.”

Wilson made a run in the second quarter, cutting into the Indians’ lead to 21-12 with 2:19 to go in the first half.

Two three-pointers from Jeramy Cressman gave the Warriors some life, but a 7-0 run to finish the quarter anchored by a Dietz midrange jumper and hit from beyond the arc made it a 28-12 Tribe lead at the break.

Lehighton’s defense went into lockdown mode yet again in the third, holding Wilson to just four points while putting up 10 to extend the margin to 22 after three quarters. Roth led the way with five in the frame with Caden Meek and Blake Roberts adding buckets.

The Tribe would then go on to outscore the Warriors in the fourth as well to finish off the impressive 24-point playoff win.

“Getting the win tonight was huge because it still gives you the chance to compete for a district title, but now you get at least two more games,” said Miller. “It was also good for us over the past week or two to get some run at practice with all of our guys at full strength. There have been times this season where we have been at full strength, but we never had much practice time in those moments. I think you saw tonight we’re getting some of that cohesiveness back.”

LEADING SCORERS… Roth and Dietz tallied 18 points apiece for Lehighton. For Wilson, Lafayette Acree led the way with eight.

200… Dietz came through with four three-pointers in the game, surpassing 200 for his career. Dietz is already the career three-point leader for the Indians’ program.

NEXT UP… Lehighton, the No. 4 seed, will now face off with No. 1 seed Northwestern in the 4A semis on Tuesday at a time and site to be determined. The Colonial League champion Tigers’ had a bye in the quarterfinal round.

WILSON

Acre 3-2-3-8, Cressman 2-0-0-6, Singleton 0-0-0-0, Shotko 0-0-0-0, Darwich 1-0-0-2, DiBartola 0-0-0-0, Durandisse 3-1-1-7, Danielson 0-0-0-0, Hall 1-0-0-3, Velasquez 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 10-3-4-26.

LEHIGHTON

Solt 0-0-0-0, Light 1-0-0-3, Meek 1-1-2-3, Talin 1-0-0-2, Johnson 0-0-0-0, Roberts 3-0-0-6, Blair 0-0-0-0, Roth 6-6-8-18, Dietz 7-0-0-18. TOTALS: 19-7-10-50.

Wilson 2 10 4 10 - 26

Lehighton 19 9 10 12 - 50

Three-pointers: Wilson - Cressman 2, Hall 1; Lehighton - Dietz 4, Light 1.