Mid-season injuries can cause havoc for teams, especially in the middle of a winning streak. For Northern Lehigh, starting center Josh Landsberger went down with a sprained ankle recently, forcing some adaptation to take place amidst the Bulldog roster.

The hosts responded well and used a big defensive stand in the fourth frame to pull out a 66-47 win to down Jim Thorpe in a non-league battle.Matt Egan and Tyler Dibilio teamed up for 39 points for the Bulldogs, leading their team to the win over the pesky Olympians.Thorpe begrudgingly battled with the 'Dawgs for three frames of action, before going scoreless for the first six and a half minutes of the fourth."I think we came out a little flat and we didn't take them as strongly as we should have," Egan admitted afterwards.However, it was the hot hand of the senior point guard that got the 'Dawgs barking, as he poured in 10 points in the first eight minutes. Northern Lehigh led 18-14 at the end of the first and had committed no turnovers up to that point.Also, despite the loss of their leading rebounder, they still managed a 34-30 advantage on the glass for the game."It certainly wasn't the prettiest of games by our standards," Northern Lehigh head coach Jeff Miller admitted. "But we scrapped and clawed and did what was needed to get the win. Without having an inside presence offensively, we wanted to try and get as many easy baskets as we could."Jim Thorpe was able to pound the ball down low and get some lay-ups against the smaller lineup, as four of their six field goals in the first period were inside buckets. Shane Snisky made his presence known in the game, scoring 15 points for the Olympians, along with 13 rebounds.However, the high-powered combination of Matt Egan and Dibilio proved to be too much firepower, as Dibilio nailed a trey two minutes into the second to get his game going."They've been our two main offensive cogs for us all season," Miller mentioned. "They certainly feed off of each other on the offensive end."Dibilio connected on another bomb a minute later, helping the Bulldogs to a 38-27 swell at the break."We definitely end up taking a lot more outside shots, without that inside game that Josh normally provides," Dibilio admitted."Defensively, we try and help crash the boards more," Egan added. "But offensively, we just look to push more to overcome that lack of an inside game, and we don't need to set up in a half-court offense as much."Supporting role players for Northern Lehigh also rose to the challenge, as Aaron Hofmann (three steals, four rebounds), Joe Egan (10 points), and Jarryd Traca (six points, three steals) also added to the win.For Jim Thorpe, Bryce Micciche had a nice outing, finishing with 12 points from both outside and inside.With a Colonial League showdown awaiting the Bulldogs tomorrow night against Southern Lehigh, Miller hopes this win serves as a springboard into that, as Landsberger is expected to return."It's a huge game for us in the league and in districts," said Miller. "Defensively they're tough, they play a lot of guys and we'll definitely have our hands full."JIM THORPEB. Carroll 0-0-0-0, Principe 3-0-0-6, B. Micciche 5-1-2-12, C. Micciche 2-2-2-6, McElmoyle 2-0-0-6, O. Snisky 1-0-0-2, S. Snisky 7-1-5-15, Jefferson 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 20-4-9-47.NORTHERN LEHIGHTraca 2-2-2-6, M. Egan 8-3-4-20, Dibilio 5-5-6-19, Meixsell 1-0-0-2, Shupp 3-0-0-6, J. Egan 4-2-4-10, Hofmann 1-1-2-3, Novitsky 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 24-13-18-66.Jim Thorpe 14 13 16 4 - 47Northern Lehigh 18 20 15 13 - 66Three pointers: JT - McElmoyle 2, B. Micciche 1; NL - Dibilio 4, M. Egan 1.