There are no style points awarded in basketball. No panel of judges to impress.

Or as the Oakland Raiders’ late owner Al Davis used to say, “Just win, baby.”

That’s what Tamaqua did on Friday night against Jim Thorpe, posting a 56-43 Schuylkill League victory.

Tamaqua didn’t dazzle, but Blue Raiders head coach Jim Barron was thinking along the same line as the legendary Oakland Raiders boss.

“It definitely wasn’t pretty,” Barron said. “I thought Jim Thorpe played well and made us fight hard and really battle for everything we got.

“But in the end, all that matters is we got a tough Schuylkill League win.”

After trailing for most of the opening quarter, Tamaqua took control in the second period to open a 31-22 lead at halftime.

Brayden Knoblauch hit a pair of threes to open the second quarter as the Raiders began to expand on a narrow 14-13 advantage. Knoblauch finished with 12 of his game-high 23 points in the opening half and Lucas Gregiore added eight of his 10 points in the half.

“Brayden is a four-year starter for us and Lucas is now in his third year starting,” Barron said. “They are two of the best players in the league and they are the guys we look to offensively.

“We struggled early in the game, but we eventually began to take control behind the scoring of Brayden and Lucas. Give Jim Thorpe credit though because they never let us get comfortable. They kept hanging around and making runs.”

Trailing by nine points to start the third quarter, Jim Thorpe put together its best stretch of the game, reeling off a 6-0 spurt behind a three-pointer by Caiden Hurley and points from Chris Condly and Adam Lauer. The teams traded points for the next several minutes as the Olympians were down just five (38-33) with less than two minutes left in the third quarter.

“Tamaqua is a really good team, but I thought our guys battled them hard all night,” Jim Thorpe coach Jason McElmoyle said. “They opened up a lead on us in the second quarter when we lost Knoblauch a couple of times and he burned us with three-pointers.

“But we didn’t quit. We made a few nice runs in the second half. I believe we got to within three or four points on several occasions, but could never quite get over the hump. You’re never happy with a loss, but I saw improvement tonight.”

Tamaqua restored its lead to double digits early in the final period and stayed in control — although never totally comfortable — the rest of the way.

“We made things tougher on ourselves than they needed to be with some bad foul shooting (45 percent) and poor decision making,” Baron said. “We definitely found some things we need to work on. But I’d much rather find those things in a win than a loss.”

THIRD WHEEL ... The Raiders are going to be able to count on Knoblauch and Lucas Gregiore for offense most nights, but coach Barron said finding a third scorer is something his team must do. Last night, Barron Stauffenberg filled that role as he drilled a trio of three-pointers and scored 13 points. “We need another scorer. It can be someone different each night, but we need someone to help Brayden and Lucas,” said coach Barron. “Tonight, Barron Stauffenberg did a nice job. He’s always been a good defender, but if he can continue to hit shots like this, we’re going to be a much better team.”

THORPE’S BEST ... Lauer had a strong game for Jim Thorpe, finishing with a team-high 15 points. He gave the Raider defense trouble the entire game trying to contain his strong drives to the basket.

RECORDS ... Tamaqua improves to 5-1 overall and 1-0 in the league. Jim Thorpe falls to 1-5 overall and 0-2 in the league.

JIM THORPE

Condly 5-0-0-11, Richards 0-0-0-0, Hurley 2-1-2-7, Ivey 0-0-0-0, Adames 2-2-4-7, Lauer 6-1-4-15, Marykwas 1-1-1-3. TOTALS: 16-5-10-48.

TAMAQUA

Knoblauch 9-2-3-23, Bollentino 0-0-2-0, Boyle 1-0-0-3, N Gregoire 2-3-6-7, L Gregoire 4-2-7-10, Stauffenberg 4-2-2-13. TOTALS: 20-9-20-56.

Jim Thorpe 13 9 13 8 - 43

Tamaqua 14 17 12 13 - 56

Three-pointers: Jim Thorpe - Hurley 2, Lauer 2, Condly 1, Adames 1; Tamaqua - Knoblauch 3, Stauffenberg 3, Boyle 1.