I wanted the ball,” he said.

Tyler Fritz got what he wanted, and like so many great players who make the difference at crunch time in a tight game, he delivered.

Fritz scored nine of his team’s 14 points in overtime to lead Marian to a 64-60 win over Jim Thorpe in the season opener for both teams.

The home crowd really motivated me,” said Fritz, who scored a game high 33 points on the night.

After JT’s Chris Condly found Adam Lauer to knot the score at 50 at the end of regulation, Fritz took over the game.

He sank two free throws to put the Colts up, 52-50. The he scored on a left- handed turnaround jumper in the lane. With the Colts ahead by three with 2:10 left in OT, he nailed a long three- pointer.

After Lauer’s two free throws cut the Colt margin to four, Fritz drove the lane with a layup with 1:35 to go. Thorpe answered on a trey by James Adames and with :55 left, Condly scored on a beautiful spinning layup to cut the Marian lead to 61-60.

But Fritz capped his big night by icing the game with three free throws.

“This kind of game is what’s expected between two rivals,” said Colts’ coach John Patton. “During a time out in OT, I told our team we have to finish this out. We had to take care of the ball.”

Marian started the game strong and led by seven points after one period.

At the start of the second, Marian controlled the boards, but Condly held Fritz to just one field goal and the JT junior’s bucket at 6:45 tied the score at 16-16 ending a seven point Olympian run.

The Colts then got their gears turning. Dante Agosti’s five points and two threes by Logan Fritz opened the Colts’ lead to 32-24 at the intermission.

The Olympians went on another 7-0 run to start the third. Adames jumper brought his team to within a point, but Tyler Fritz’s long baseline three and another by Chris Ritsick made the score 38-31 with 3:40 left in the third. Once again Jim Thorpe stormed back and with Adames short shot off the glass, they were within one at 38-37.

“We started the second half with a match up zone and it worked to help us get close,” said Thorpe coach Jason McElmoyle.

In the fourth, Fritz’s running one hander opened Marian’s lead to 48-43, but JT scored seven of the period’s final nine points to send the game to OT.

“I told our team to play our game and do what we do best,” said McElmoyle . “We were right there at the end with the ball in a one possession game, but just couldn’t get it done.”

Agosti scored five of his 14 points down the stretch when the defense collapsed on Fritz.

The night belonged to Tyler Fritz, however, and McElmoyle praised Marian’s senior after the game.

“He’s the best player in our league,” McElmoyle said. “But I thought Condly did a great job making Fritz work for his shots and at times, he forced him to take shots that we were happy he took.

“I’m proud of how we hustled all night long. We missed some layups early on and we need to tighten up our defense, but the effort was definitely there.

Condly led JT with 19 points. Adames and Lauer added 14 apiece.

PLAYOFF ATMOSPHERE ... With a packed Marian gym and a game between two rival schools, opening night had the feel of a game in March and both teams played that way until the final buzzer.

DOUBLE TIME ... Both McElmoyle and Patton called several timeouts at the end of regulation and in overtime. In fact, with 19 seconds left in the fourth quarter, Marian called back to back time outs with no time ticking off the clock.

JIM THORPE

Cannariato 2-0-0-5, Condly 7-5-6-19, Richards 0-0-0-0, Hurley 3-1-2-8, Adames 6-0-0-14, Lauer 5-3-6-14, McHugh 0-0-0-0, Marykwas 0-0-0-0. 23-9-14-60.

MARIAN

T. Fritz 11-8-10-33, Ritsick 2-2-3-7, Agosti 5-1-2-14, Malarkey 2-0-0-4, L. Fritz -2-0-0-6, Goff 0-0-4-0, Cerullo 0-0-0-0, Eroh 0-0-0-0, Chambers 0-0-0-0. 22-11-19-64.

Jim Thorpe 9 15 13 13 10 - 60

Marian 16 16 6 12 14 - 64

Three-pointers: JT: Adames 2, Cannariato 1, Hurley 1, Lauer 1. Mar: T. Fritz 3, L. Fritz 2, Ritsick 1,