A backyard brawl is one thing, but at times this was more like an all-out assault.

Rivals Lehighton and Jim Thorpe met on Monday in a physical Schuylkill League boys basketball game that produced plenty of excitement.

In the end, it was the Indians who stayed poised throughout the mayhem and pulled out a 57-46 victory.

“I’m so proud of our young team and the way we held our own in here tonight,” said Lehighton coach Trevor Miller. “It was an outstanding effort.”

The game resembled a free-for-all at times as Lehighton had four players foul out, and Jim Thorpe had three. The Indians shot 33 free throws and made 26, while the Olympians went to the line 24 times and made 11. A total of 52 fouls were called during the game, including three technicals.

Lehighton grabbed control early building a 20-11 first quarter lead behind a strong performance from superb freshman guard Cole Dietz, who scored 11 of his game-high 26 in the period.

But as fast as you can say ho-ho-ho, Thorpe eventually picked up the pieces and figured a way to catch the fast-moving Tribe.

After closing the gap slightly in the second quarter, Jim Thorpe scurried in front 33-32 thanks to an 11-3 run to start the third quarter.

Thorpe turned to its slick senior veteran Kaiden Herron to get back into the game, and he knocked down nine of his team-high 17 points in the comeback.

“We do a great job to open the second half, but then we come out in the fourth quarter and start looking for the easy way out by taking too many three-point shots and not being patient,” said Jim Thorpe coach Jason McElmoyle.

Indeed, that was the beginning of Thorpe’s demise.

While Thorpe was firing away from the perimeter, Lehighton kept “grinding” as coach Miller so aptly put it.

“There were a lot of ups and downs, but that’s the beauty of basketball,” Miller said. “Ebbs and flows, ups and downs we had a lot of them. Give Jim Thorpe credit for coming back like they did, came back, but I’m so proud of a young team like ours for how they regrouped and pulled away again.”

After scoring the final seven points of the third quarter to regain the lead, Lehighton maintained that momentum throughout the final quarter to pull away for the victory.

“Our response to their flurry, says a lot about our team,” Miller said. “It is a huge plus for us moving forward.”

LEARNING EXPERIENCE ... This one was a learning experience in more ways than one for Lehighton. For the Indians to fend off a comeback bid on the road and then pull away from Thorpe despite losing four-fifths of its starting lineup has to be a big confidence-booster.

LOTS OF SHOTS … Besides the 57 free throws taken, both teams also got up their share of shots from the field as Lehighton was 12-for-47 from the floor, and Jim Thorpe finished 14-for-37.

OTHER NUMBERS ... The Indians’ Joe Roth backed Dietz with 11 points. Both teams had 31 rebounds with Josh Spruill collaring nine for Thorpe and Roth and Blake Roberts grabbing seven apiece for Lehighton. Roberts had a strong overall game on both ends of the floor.

LOW SCORING OPENER … Lehighton won the JV game, 14-7. The contest was played with 4-minute quarters due to illness and lack of players.

LEHIGHTON

Dietz 4-15-17-26, Roth 4-3-5-11, Light 1-4-4-7, Roberts 2-2-3-6, Johnson 2-0-2-5, Serfoss 0-2-2-2, Acosta 0-0-0-0, Smith 0-0-0-0, Blauch 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 13-26-33-57.

JIM THORPE

Herron 4-8-16-17, Spruill 3-0-1-8, Domski 2-0-0-6, Warner 1-2-4-4, Heydt 2-0-0-4, Barile 1-1-2-4, Goldberg 1-0-0-3, Selby 0-0-0-0, Craigle 0-0-0-0, McHugh 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 14-11-24-46.

Lehighton 20 9 10 18 – 57

Jim Thorpe 11 11 12 12 – 46

Three-pointers: Lehighton - Dietz 3, Light 1, Johnson 1. Jim Thorpe - Spruill 2, Domski 2, Herron 1, Goldberg 1, Barile 1.