It’s important to not let teams hang around in any sporting contest.

The Jim Thorpe boys’ basketball team learned that lesson firsthand on Saturday.

Though Thorpe (0-2) held the lead for the majority of its nonleague matchup against Marian, the Colts (1-0) never let Thorpe pull away.

As a result, Marian was able to pull out a narrow 51-48 nonleague victory.

After struggling mightily from beyond the arc against Lehighton on Friday, the Olympians got off to a much better start against the Colts. Thorpe tripled its three-point output from the night before in the first quarter, connecting from deep on three occasions, which helped it build a 19-15 advantage.

“We came out and had a different mentality offensively to start the game,” said Jim Thorpe head coach Jason McElmoyle. “I thought we dictated the tempo at times today, and there’s no doubt we play better in a more up-tempo style of game.

“Hitting shots definitely helps, and we were able to make some early ones. I didn’t know what team offensively was going to show up after our struggles (Friday) night, but we played really well at times. But as anyone knows, you have to play for all 32 minutes.”

McElmoyle was referring to the Olympians’ play late in the ball game. Thorpe led throughout, holding as much as a seven-point lead twice in the second and third quarters. But any time the Olympians had a chance to extend their lead to a possible double-digit advantage, their offense stalled and was plagued by turnovers.

The Colts, who struggled with turnovers of their own - including 13 in the second half - still were never really out of the game and used that to their advantage late in the fourth quarter.

“We’ve had to integrate some new guys into our lineup and let’s face it, we’ve had a go-to guy the last few years, who isn’t here any more that we could get the ball to when we struggled offensively, so we needed guys to step up and they did,” said Marian head coach John Patton.

“With no offseason, and with new players, maybe the most challenging thing is guys with new roles; it was good to come out of here with a win. Our guys hung in there through the adversity and made plays at the end to pull it out for us.”

Making plays at the end is exactly what Marian was able to do.

Trailing by two with under 30 seconds remaining, Logan Fritz nailed a go-ahead three-pointer to put the Colts up one. But on the following Jim Thorpe offensive possession, the Olympians’ Chris Condly was fouled and went to the line to potentially tie or even give Thorpe the lead.

Condly hit one-of-two to knot the score. Following that, Marian’s Frankie Valente came up with the play of the game.

After taking some time off the clock, Valente crossed over to his left, beating his defender, and finished with a nifty right-handed layup. He was almost underneath the left backboard, but still hit the shot to give the Colts a two-point lead with 4.6 seconds remaining.

A few moments later, Valente added a free throw to extend the lead to three and a half-court desperation heave from the Olympians missed left.

LEADERS … Valente led Marian with 14 points, including three triples. John Malarkey was also an important offensive catalyst. When the Colts’ offense struggled, Malarkey was able to come up with key buckets as he scored eight of his 13 points in the second half. For Thorpe, Condly scored a game-high 15 points and Sonny Ivey added 10.

MARIAN

Agosti 2-3-3-7, Fritz 2-1-2-7, Concepcion 0-0-0-0, Malarkey 5-3-4-13, Lonergan 3-2-4-8, Cerullo 0-0-0-0, Ch. Chambers 1-0-0-2, Ca. Chambers 0-0-0-0, Valente 4-3-4-14. TOTALS: 17-12-17-51.

JIM THORPE

Condly 4-7-9-15, McHugh 0-0-0-0, Richards 1-3-4-5, Hurley 3-0-0-7, Fisher 2-0-4-4, Ivey 3-2-3-10, Herron 0-0-0-0, Marykwas 2-2-4-7. TOTALS: 15-14-24-48.

Marian 15 11 11 14 - 51

Jim Thorpe 19 7 11 11 - 48

Three-pointers: Marian - Valente 3, Fritz 2; Jim Thorpe - Ivey 2, Hurley 1, Marykwas 1.