Olympians hold off Colts

Before Rudy Forman could even get through his free throw routine, Chris Valdez stopped him.

With Jim Thorpe clinging to a one-point lead, Valdez leaned in and gave the senior some words of encouragement.

“I told him to just get ready and make these free throws. You do this a thousand times in practice,” Valdez recalled.

Valdez’s words rang true. Forman hit both shots to help Jim Thorpe hold off Marian 63-60 on Monday night.

“We knew it was going to be hard. They’re our rivals, they’re always going to be playing hard,” Valdez said. “We just had to make sure to play pressure basketball, play our type of basketball.”

Forman’s two shots with 36.8 seconds remaining helped the Olympians seal the win and stop a furious rally from the Colts, who trailed 23-8 early in the second quarter.

An 8-2 run to close out the second period cut Jim Thorpe’s lead to 30-24 at the intermission. But a 9-2 spurt for the Olympians (7-7) to open the third quarter quickly pushed their advantage back to double digits.

“We knew they were gonna have a run because they’re a great team. They know how to shoot, they know how to pass the ball well,” said Valdez, who had nine points. “We just had to make sure that run wasn’t big, and we just had to cut it down, and make sure that we came out on top.”

As momentum swung back-and-forth in the second half, Marian (4-7) hung around with big shots from Tyler Fritz, who scored a game-high 24 points. The sophomore hit a three-pointer that rolled around the rim before falling through the basket to make it 61-60 with less than two minutes to play.

Marian had a potential go-ahead shot in the final minute that rattled out and went back to the Olympians. The Colts had a final attempt at the buzzer after Forman’s free throws that was just off the mark.

“We came out and tried to play them zone and that didn’t work. They just killed us,” said Marian head coach John Patton. “We went to man-to-man, and that’s the best man-to-man we’ve played all year. We really played well. We were up, we were aggressive, and hopefully that bodes well for the future.

“But it was a tough start, it was a long row to hoe. We came all the way back with a chance to take the lead, and that’s all you can ask for. I keep saying to them that we’re getting close, but there’s not a consolation prize for getting close.”

Jim Thorpe’s Nate and Nick Rosahac were devastating inside. Nate finished with 18 points and five rebounds, while Nick had 12 points and grabbed two boards.

Justin Marykwas finished with seven points and three rebounds for the Olympians.

“It’s huge. It’s huge when you have guys that you can depend on in the post,” said Jim Thorpe head coach Jason McElmoyle. “And we haven’t been hitting shots lately, so it was good tonight that we were finishing and we were getting to the rim, and we were making the free throws.”

It’s a trend Jim Thorpe hopes to continue in the second half of the season.

“This is huge to know that we have the ability to close out games,” said Nate Rosahac. “We’re going to rely on our ability to make free throws, handle the ball, and be strong when there’s only two minutes left and it’s a one-point game.”

REMEMBER WHEN? … Jim Thorpe topped Marian 66-47 in the season-opener. Leading 41-36 entering the fourth quarter, the Olympians used a 25-point fourth quarter to pull away.

PERFECT TEN … Chris Ritsick and Noah Stauffer both finished with 10 points for the Colts. Ritsick converted a four-point play in the fourth quarter, hitting a three-pointer from the corner and calmly draining his free throw attempt to cut Jim Thorpe’s lead to 59-55 with 3:00 remaining.

MARIAN

Stauffer 4-2-3-10, Fritz 8-7-10-24, Agosti 3-0-0-7, Ritsick 3-1-1-10, Tate 0-3-4-3, Sabulsky 1-0-0-2, Goff 2-0-0-4, McLaughlin 0-0-0-0, McCall 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 21-13-18-60.

JIM THORPE

Searfoss 0-1-3-1, Burak 1-0-0-3, Cannariato 2-1-4-6, Valdez 3-2-2-9, Forman 2-2-2-7, Marykwas 3-0-0-7, Na. Rosahac 6-6-8-18, Ni. Rosahac 6-0-0-12, Scott 0-0-0-0. TOTAL: 23-12-19-63.

Marian 8 16 18 18 - 60

Jim Thorpe 21 9 21 12 - 63

Three-pointers: Marian – Ritsick 3, Agosti 1, Fritz 1. Jim Thorpe – Burak 1, Cannariato 1