Rosahac leads JT past Lehighton

Make no mistake about it. Jim Thorpe’s Nate Rosahac prefers to start.

But the way Rosahac played coming off the bench on Monday against Lehighton, you would never know it.

Despite entering the game in the second quarter, Rosahac almost doubled his season scoring average with a dominating 14-point, 15-rebound performance.

Jim Thorpe needed Rosahac’s big game to escape with a 46-42 Schuylkill League victory over the Indians.

“I tried to bring a lot of energy to the team when I entered the game,” said Rosahac. “I wanted to hit the boards hard and contribute with my scoring as well.”

Rosahac certainly did that, scoring nine second-quarter points. With Rosahac and Justin Marykwas supplying almost all of the offense, Thorpe built a double-digit lead in the quarter before a late Lehighton surge cut the advantage to 28-21 at halftime.

“Nate gave us a big lift when he went into the game,” said Thorpe head coach Jason McElmoyle. “He’s 6-foot-5, so he’s hard to handle in the paint.

“He did a nice job attacking the basket offensively, and also was a huge factor on the defensive boards.”

Despite the big game from Rosahac, and a game-high 18 points from Marykwas, Thorpe was never able to put Lehighton away.

The Olympians (8-8, 2-6) led 36-29 after three quarters. Lehighton made several runs in the fourth, but could never quite get over the hump.

“Our 1-3-1 trap has been good for us this year,” said Lehighton head coach Trevor Miller. “We did a nice job with it tonight. We were able to make some big plays defensively to give ourselves a chance.

“But we just couldn’t make enough shots to win it. We got quality looks against their zone, but just couldn’t knock enough of them down. That’s been the story of our season.”

The Indians (2-14, 0-8) pulled to within two points twice in the final minutes, but both times Jim Thorpe had an answer.

Marykwas buried a corner three with 3:06 left the first time to increase the Thorpe lead to 41-36.

“That was a huge shot by Justin,” said McElmoyle. “He’s been struggling with his shot a little bit lately, but he hit a few threes tonight.”

The next time Lehighton got close was on an Addison Howland drive that cut the Olympian lead to 44-42 with :33 remaining. This time, a Chris Valdez free throw with :19 left helped widen the gap a little bit.

“We struggled at the line tonight (11-for-24), which really kept them in the game,” said McElmoyle.

“But down the stretch we hit a couple of big free throws that ultimately saved us.”

The Indians had a final chance to tie after Valdez’s free throw made it 45-42. Miller called a time out with :17 left to set up the potential game-tying shot.

“We ran the play we called to perfection,” said Miller. “The first option was a three-pointer for Addison coming off a double screen. But Jim Thorpe did a nice job defensively and jumped the screen.

“Our kids adjusted nicely and we got it to our second option and had a good look. The shot just didn’t go down.”

Fittingly, Rosahac rebounded the miss and secured the victory by hitting one of two free throws with less than a second remaining.

ICE, ICE BABY … Through three quarters, Lehighton was shooting 8-for-35 from the floor (23 percent). It finished the game 14-for-48 (29 percent). Jim Thorpe was only slightly better, shooting 15-for-45 (33 percent).

TOPS TRIBE … Greg Venuto led Lehighton with 11 points. Howland added nine rebounds and seven points and TaQuan Bradkley-Chambers had eight points and seven boards.

POSTSEASON … Jim Thorpe is now within three wins of hitting the magic number of 11 which guarantees teams a District 11 berth. But McElmoyle isn’t thinking that far ahead. “All I’m worried about right now is trying to get win No. 9,” he said.

JIM THORPE

Searfoss 1-0-0-3, Burak 0-2-4-2, Cannariata 0-0-0-0, C. Valdez 0-6-10-6, Scott 0-0-0-0, Foreman 1-0-0-3, Marykwas 7-1-3-18, Na. Rosahac 6-2-7-14, Ni. Rosahac 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 15-11-24-46.

LEHIGHTION

Heery 2-0-0-5, Carpenter 4-0-0-8, Hunsicker 1-1-3-3, Bradley-Chambers 3-2-7-8, Haydt 0-0-0-0, Howland 2-3-4-7,Venuto 2-7-8-11, Schatz 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 14-13-22-42

Jim Thorpe 12 16 8 10 - 46

Lehighton 8 13 8 13 - 42

Three-pointers: Jim Thorpe - Marykwas 3, Searfoss 1, Foreman 1; Lehighton - Heery 1.

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