It's tough to win when you don't make shots.

Jim Thorpe's Jason McElmoyle has seen that firsthand.During their recent five-game losing streak, the Olympians have struggled from the field.But on Friday night, both the shooting woes and the skid ended in a 60-42 Schuylkill League win over rival Panther Valley."It's nice to get one under our belt," said McElmoyle. "We played hard and we finally hit some key shots that we weren't hitting in previous games. We had a couple of close games where the ball just wouldn't go in the basket. Tonight it did.""We've had trouble scoring in other games. We usually play hard every game from start to finish but tonight we were able to score."The points especially piled up during a first-half run that put the host team in total control.Leading by just three points midway through the first quarter, Thorpe went on a 24-7 run by hitting shots from everywhere on the floor. The Olympians drove to the basket, hit from the perimeter, and also converted off of offensive rebounds.The result was a 20-point halftime lead."We've been preaching to our guards to drive inside the paint," said McElmoyle. "We have to get into the lane to open it up for our shooters. The last few games Brendan Carroll has been doing a great job getting there and Chris (Micciche) is also doing a good job getting there."Before when we would get there we weren't making good decisions but tonight we did ... Our guards played very smart tonight. They even did a good job rebounding. They might not have collected rebounds, but they kept their guys from getting them."The battle of the boards was especially crucial to Jim Thorpe's quick start.The Olympians (6-11; 3-7) dominated inside, doubling the Panthers in rebounds during the first half. In fact, Thorpe pulled down 13 boards off the offensive glass which directly resulted in 10 points."They absolutely killed us on the boards," said PV mentor Pat Crampsie. "For the entire first half, they were the much more physical team, the much more aggressive team, and they were the ones getting after rebounds and loose balls. We weren't getting a body on guys and it just killed us."The effort was better in the second half ... but the start of the game was very disappointing especially against a rival. It was a game we felt good about coming in. But right off the bat, when you're letting them push you around and grab rebounds you know it's going to be hard to compete."While the Panthers (3-14; 1-9) came out stronger in the second half, they could never get the margin under 16 points.Micciche paced the Olympians with 13 points, 11 of them coming in the first half, while Carroll and Rayan Green each tallied 10. Dave Everitt collected seven rebounds (five of them offensive) while Green and Matt Elmore each pulled down six."Having Dave Everitt back is huge for us," said McElmoyle. "He provides a big body inside and he did a heckuva job on the boards. Rayan is tough to guard and Matt also did a great job. We got a total team effort tonight."For the Panthers, Chad Dubosky finished with a team-high 10 points.PANTHER VALLEYKeo 2-0-0-4, Dubosky 1-8-10-10, Vermillion 2-2-2-7, Stanko 1-1-2-4, Micholik 1-0-0-3, Nase 0-0-0-0, Miller 1-0-0-3, Hudicka 1-0-0-2, Weng 0-0-0-0, Fisher 0-2-2-2, Blasko 3-1-2-7, Eickoff 0-0-0-0, Emmert 0-0-0-0, Morgans 0-0-0-0, Mehmeti 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 12-14-18-42.JIM THORPECarroll 3-3-4-10, Veney 3-1-1-7, Elmore 2-1-4-5, Micciche 4-4-6-13, Green 4-2-2-10, O. Snisky 0-0-0-0, Lauer 0-0-1-0, Twardzick 0-0-0-0, Luciana 2-2-2-7, McElmoyle 0-0-0-0, Jefferson 1-0-0-2, Everitt 3-0-2-6. TOTALS: 22-13-22-60.Panther Vy. 11 6 13 12 - 42Jim Thorpe 20 17 13 10 - 60Three-pointers: Panther Valley - Vermillion 1, Stanko 1, Micholik 1, Miller 1; Jim Thorpe - Carroll 1, Micciche 1, Luciana 1.