Tyler Crum and Lehighton took the suspense out of the game early.

Needing 12 points to hit the 1,000-point mark for his career, Crum reached the milestone early in the second quarter.The Indians were just as efficient at taking care of Jim Thorpe, initiating the mercy rule just over a minute into the second half and rolling to a 77-36 Schuylkill League victory."We knew they struggled handling the ball in both of our earlier meetings with them," said Lehighton coach Rich Oertner. "So our game plan was to give them a lot of different defensive looks and really keep the pressure turned up."The plan worked to perfection as Lehighton forced the Olympians into 11 first quarter turnovers and held them to a 2-for-12 shooting performance from the field. It added up to a commanding 21-5 lead after one period."We're a team that's at its best when our defense is leading to offensive points like it was tonight," said Oertner. "When we can get some easy baskets in transition we are a different team."We start to play a little looser and that usually leads to better shooting in our half court offense,"That's exactly what happened in the second quarter as Lehighton shot a sizzling 11-for-14 from the field, including 3-for-4 from three point range. The hot shooting led to a 30-point offensive explosion in the quarter that gave the Indians a 51-16 halftime lead.One of those second quarter three-pointers came from Crum as his corner triple with 5:31 left in the half gave him 1,000 points for his career."I think my teammates were trying to get me the ball and get me some shots early in the game," said Crum. "They helped me get a lot of open looks and fortunately I was able to knock some of them down and get it out of the way pretty early in the game."It was nice to get off to the type of start we did tonight. It seemed like our entire team was hitting shots. That allowed me to relax and not press when I was getting close to the 1,000th point."Tom Ruzicka hit his third three-pointer of the night to open the third quarter, Nick Chambers followed with a corner three, and Jordan Knappenberger scored on a drive to the basket to push the Indian lead over 40 points and kick in the running clock with 6:54 still left in the period.Knappenberger finished with 17 points to lead Lehighton (11-5, 4-4). Krum added 14 points, Ruzicka had 11 and Tyler Williams chipped in nine. Chambers had just six points, but blocked three shots and had a game-high 10 rebounds."It was a good night for Tyler to hit his milestone," said Oertner, whose team also qualified for districts with the victory. "It was nice to see him recognized for all he has done for the program the last four years."But I thought all five of our starters played well tonight. Tom (Ruzicka) did a nice job of playing with a lot of energy on defense and then he knocked down a couple of long threes as well. Jordan (Knappenberger) had a strong game, Nick (Chambers) did a nice job underneath the basket, and Tyler Williams gave us solid defense and some offense as well."For Jim Thorpe (5-10 2-6), which played without starting center Rayan Green, who was sick, and played almost three quarters without power forward Shane Snisky after he was injured early in the game, it was a game to forget.""Lehighton forced us into a lot of turnovers that put us in an early hole," said Olympian coach Jason McElmoyle. "Then they started hitting shots from all over the court."We were playing without a 6-6 starter (Green) and then with a 6-5 starter (Snisky) on the bench most of the game which certainly didn't help. But you have to give Lehighton a lot of credit. They are a great team that played great basketball tonight."JIM THORPECarroll 1-0-0-3, Veney 3-0-2-7, Elmore 2-1-3-5, Micciche 2-0-0-5, O. Snisky 2-0-0-4, Lauer 0-0-0-0, Twardzick 0-0-0-0, Luciana 2-1-1-6, McElmoyle 1-0-0-3, Jefferson 1-1-2-3, S, Snisky 0-0-0-0, Everitt 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 14-3-8-36.LEHIGHTONRuzicka 4-0-0-11, Cordova 0-0-0-0, Crum 6-0-0-14, Zwetolitz 0-2-4-2, Ortiz 0-0-2-0, Williams 3-2-3-9, Mele 0-0-0-0, Skrincosky 0-0-0-0, Buchinsky 1-0-0-2, Manogue 2-0-0-5, Budinger 2-0-0-6, McDowell 2-1-3-5, Chambers 1-3-6-6, Knappenberger 6-4-5-17, Green 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 27-12-23-77.Jim Thorpe 5 11 10 10 - 36Lehighton 21 30 10 16 - 77Three-pointers: JT - Carroll 1, Veney 1, McElmoyle 1, Micciche 1, Luciana 1. L - Ruzicka 3, Crum 2, Budinger 2, Knappenberger 1, Manogue 1, Williams 1, Chambers 1.