FOUNTAIN SPRINGS - If there is one word that describes Jim Thorpe's effort Wednesday evening against North Schuylkill it was persistence.

Trailing by as much as 10 points in the first half, the underdog Olympians stayed with their game plan, and rallied for a thrilling 40-34 victory, knocking out the Spartans in the District 11 Class AAA playoffs."This was a battle and the most important thing was we never gave up," said Jim Thorpe head coach Jason McElmoyle. "They are so gifted with great athletes and our big concern was Tevin Murray. He is such a great athlete, he can do so many things for them. He's scary."Just three weeks ago when the same two teams met on North Schuylkill's court, the Spartans rolled to a 24-point victory. This time around, the Olympians were hell-bent on making it a better outcome - and they definitely accomplished that.Murray was held to 13 points, and no other Spartan was close to double-digit scoring. And a lot of that had to do with Rayan Green, who patrolled the paint deftly on defense and keyed the offense with 14 points. Despite being in foul trouble late in the contest, Green also pulled down seven rebounds."We were able to get him free a few times, and he came up really big for us all night long," said McElmoyle.He was especially dominant late in the game when things were hanging in the balance.Green knocked down nine of his points over the final eight minutes, as Thorpe turned around a 29-23 deficit.Green had five points and Matt Elmore added a field goal as Thorpe opened the final period with a seven-point run to take the lead as momentum was streaming towards the 10th-seeded Olympians.Major Jordan calmed the waters for North Schuylkill with two foul shots, however Jim Thorpe was feeling the adrenalin. Elmore gave Thorpe a 32-31 lead with another basket at the 4:23 mark, before the Spartans' Jonathan Smith sank the back-end of a two-shot foul try to tie it, 32-32.Green had yet another answer with a follow up, but Murray came storming out of a pack to pick off a pass and lay in the tying basket at 1:19.The seams were about to burst and it was Thorpe set to rule as Green's basket with :58 left was his biggest of the night, putting his team on top for keeps.Alec Lauer sank a pair of free throws and Jordan McElmoyle put the finishing touches on the win with two more late foul conversions."We didn't attack (their) defense the way we did earlier in the game," said a dejected North Schuylkill coach Ty Wartman. "We had that big push (in the second quarter), after that it wasn't our night."DEFENSE, DEFENSE… Defense was the key without question for Thorpe. It used a 2-1-2, clogged up the middle, and more importantly had the tempo playing right into its hands.STATISTICS… Thorpe went 16-for-40 from the floor and grabbed 24 rebounds. North Schuylkill was an ugly 13-for-47 with Murray collaring 11 of his team's 33 rebounds.UNSUNG HEROES… There were plenty for Thorpe, including Brendan Carroll, Elmore, McElmoyle and Chis Micciche. They defended the perimeter and the corners on defense causing a lot of Spartan shot hesitation.UP NEXT… The Olympians will travel to Southern Lehigh on Friday to face Salisbury in a 7:30 p.m. tipoff.JIM THORPEGreen 6-2-3-14, Elmore 4-0-0-8, Micciche 3-0-0-7, Carroll 2-0-0-5, McElmoyle 1-2-4-4, Lauer 0-2-2-2. Totals 16-6-9-40.NO. SCHUYLKILLMurray 5-3-9-13, Smith 3-1-2-7, Wood 2-0-0-6, Grigas 2-0-0-4, Jordan 1-2-2-4, Weist 0-0-0-0. Totals 13-6-13-34.Jim Thorpe 5 12 6 15 40No. Schuy. 5 20 4 5 34Three-pointers: JT - Carroll 1, Micciche 1; NS - Wood 2.