There are points during the season where teams will have to "win ugly," meaning you have to still have to find a way to earn a "W" even if things aren't clicking on all cylinders.

On Friday, the Jim Thorpe boys basketball team had to do just that. Even though it wasn't the Olympians best effort of the season, a strong second half performance lifted Thorpe to a 50-37 Schuylkill League Division 1 victory over Tamaqua.In the first half, Tamaqua (4-12) came out with an aggressive defensive approach that gave the Olympians some problems. After Thorpe (9-6) got out to a quick 6-2 lead, thanks to two Brendan Carroll triples, the Raiders went on a 17-5 run to take control of the ball game. Five Jim Thorpe turnovers in the second quarter helped Tamaqua gain momentum and it looked as if Thorpe was in for a battle."We really played well in the first half and it was probably our best defensive half of the year," said Tamaqua head coach Jim Barron. "We just have to be able to execute offensively when we have the lead and we weren't able to do that tonight. We had some open looks that we just didn't knock down and against a good team like Jim Thorpe you can't do that."The Tamaqua offensive lull started toward the end of the first half. The Raiders led 19-10 at the start of the second, but the Olympians went on a 7-0 run late in the frame to close out the second quarter within just a bucket.Enter a different Jim Thorpe ball club at the start of the second half. The Olympians defensive intensity picked up, their activeness on the offensive glass was better, and offensively they settled in and ran their offense. The result was a 13-5 advantage in the third quarter that gave them a six-point lead heading into the fourth quarter."I think we had a bit of a hangover from our last showing against Pottsville, but our defense really picked us up and I think that was the difference," said Jim Thorpe head coach Jason McElmoyle. "We were a little stagnant offensively there too, but once our defense started to play better and amp up the pressure it had a positive effect on our offense. We also started to attack the boards more and our big guys got some easy buckets."Thorpe pulled away in the fourth quarter after a strong start by Olympian big men Rayan Green and Matt Elmore. Green and Elmore were able to get some low post looks early in the fourth, extending Jim Thorpe's lead to nine halfway through the quarter. Another Green inside bucket put Thorpe up 11 with two minutes remaining and the Raiders were never able to get within single digits the rest of the way."When we run our stuff and play to the best of our abilities, I think we can play with anybody in our league," said McElmoyle.CLUTCH SHOOTING ... In the Olympians previous game against Pottsville they got to the foul line just six times the entire game. JT did a much better job of getting to the charity stripe against the Raiders, heading to line 21 times on the night. What's even more impressive is their foul shooting in the fourth quarter - shooting 10-for-11.COULDN'T FIND CARROLL ... The Raiders had a hard time finding JT three-point ace Carroll Carroll certainly made the Raiders pay, hitting four triples on the evening.NIGHTMARE ON ELMORE STREET ... Southpaw Matt Elmore was a huge difference maker for the Olympians in the second half. He not only cleaned up on the boards he also scored nine of his 11 points in the second half, going 4-for-4 from the foul line.JIM THORPECarroll 4-0-0-12, Elmore 4-4-6-12, Micciche 1-4-4-6, Jefferson 2-3-5-7, Green 4-2-4-10, Lauer 1-0-0-2, Twardzick 0-0-0-0, Joyce 0-1-2-1, McElmoyle 0-0-0-0. Totals: 16-14-21-50.TAMAQUABlaker 4-2-3-11, Wassell 2-0-0-6, Kurek 1-0-0-2, Zuber 4-0-0-9, Scott 0-0-0-0, Barr 0-0-0-0, Rother 0-0-0-0, Murphy 0-0-0-0, Rivera 0-1-2-1, Davidson 0-0-0-0, Gregoire 1-3-4-5, Bates 0-0-0-0. Totals: 13-7-11-37.Jim Thorpe 10 7 13 20 - 50Tamaqua 11 8 5 13 - 37Three-pointers: JT - Carroll 4; T - Wassell 2, Blaker 1, Zuber 1.