For the first time this season, unbeaten Pottsville found itself trailing at halftime.

It was obvious by the Crimson Tide's response that they didn't like it.Ignited by a suffocating man-to-man defense and fanned by Jordan Abdo's timely offense, Pottsville caught fire in the second half.The result was a 53-36 Crimson Tide victory over Lehighton in Schuylkill League play."I'm usually not too animated at halftime, but tonight I was," Pottsville coach Dave Mullaney said. "There is a huge difference between us playing defense at 80 percent and us playing defense at 100 percent."In the second half, you saw us at 100 percent."Lehighton (12-9, 5-8) was thinking upset as it went to the lockers with a 25-24 halftime lead.Nick Chambers had a huge first half for the Indians, scoring 10 points and hauling down six rebounds. Lehighton also got three-pointers from Hunter Greene, Tanner Zwetolitz and Damian Mele during the opening half."That was probably as well as we played all season," Lehighton coach Rich Oertner said about the opening 16 minutes. "Unfortunately, we couldn't maintain that level."I thought we played well defensively the entire game. But we looked tired offensively in the second half. I think it was as much mental fatigue as physical because Pottsville makes you work so hard. They don't only make you work every single possession, but they make you work for every single pass."Despite going more than four-and-a-half minutes without a basket and scoring just four points in the third quarter, Lehighton was still in the game, and when Andre McDowell opened the fourth quarter with a driving layup, the Indians trailed just 34-31 with 7:33 remaining.That's when Abdo took over.The junior guard went on his own personel nine-point run in a span of just over two minutes to finally give the Tide (20-0, 13-0) some breathing room."We knew who their scorers were and our game plan was to make their other kids beat us," Oertner said. "I thought we did a pretty good job on Abdo for three quarters, but he really hurt us in the fourth quarter. We allowed him to go to his right. and he got some big baskets that helped them break the game open."After not playing a lot of close games lately, Mullaney was happy with how his team answered the challenge."I thought Lehighton played really well in the first half and I thought it was a tremendous atmosphere here," he said. "It was a nice test for our kids to face this type of situation and be able to respond like we did."SHUT DOWN DEFENSE ... Over the first 12 minutes of the second half, Lehighton was only able to get off eight shots, while turning the ball over nine times. The Indians scored just six points during that stretch.AIR JORDANS ... Jordan Abdo, whose twin brother Justin is also part of an eight-man rotation that the Tide uses, led all scorers with 18 points. The only other double digit scorer for Pottsville was Jordan Melochick with 10 points.LEADING LEHIGHTON ... Chambers had 12 points and eight rebounds for the Indians, McDowell added nine points and Greene had five points and 10 rebounds.JOINT WAS JUMPING ... Mullaney raved about the atmosphere as the contest had a postseason feel to it. The Lehighton pep band had the noise level booming the entire night, there was TV coverage (WNEP), radio coverage (WPPA), and a large, noisy crowd.POTTSVILLEJu. Abdo 0-2-4-2, Gerchak 2-0-0-5, Thomas 3-2-2-9, Melochick 3-4-5-10, Witman 0-0-0-0, Jo. Abdo 5-6-6-18, Renninger 1-1-2-3, Schenk 2-0-0-6. TOTALS: 16-15-19-53.LEHIGHTONTroxell 0-0-0-0, McDowell 4-0-1-9, Zwetolitz 1-0-0-3, Mele 3-0-0-7, Howland 0-0-0-0, Chambers 4-4-6-12, Greene 2-0-0-5. TOTALS: 14-4-7-36.Pottsville 12 12 10 19 - 53Lehighton 13 12 4 7 - 36Three-pointers: P - Jo. Abdo 2, Schenk 2, Gerchak 1, Thomas 1. L - Greene 1, Mele 1, Zwetolitz 1, McDowell 1.