With a spirited effort during a season of struggle, the Palmerton boys basketball team kept the game close before finally succumbing to Jim Thorpe, 59-46, Friday night.

The Olympians stood strong against the Bombers best challenge late in the third period after Tate Buck drilled a three-pointer to bring his team to within four points at 30-26.

With three minutes left in the session, Thorpe scored 10 of the game’s next 12 points to build its advantage to 40-28 with eight minutes to go. The home team rally was led by Pierce Gothard, who scored 11 points in the third and added another eight points of his game-high 22 in the fourth period.

“Pierce is our go-to guy,” said JT head coach, Brian O’Donnell, “and he came up huge for us in the second half.”

Down by 12 going into final eight minutes, Palmerton cut the lead to eight points on a baseline three-ball by Gaige McGowan with 1:58 left on the clock.

That was as close as the Bombers would get. A bank shot by Anthony Kiehl and a layup plus four free throws by Gothard sealed the victory for the Olympians.

After the game, Bombers head coach Joe Egan praised his team’s efforts to try to end its nine-game losing streak. “We hung in there,” he said. “But we missed a few layups in the second half and turnovers, which have been a problem for us all year, hurt us again. We have to take better control of the ball.

“I’m proud of how we played. Our younger players are seeing their first varsity action this year and our seniors help keep up our competitiveness.”

Egan looks for daily progress in a season that has not gone well for his team.

“We look for little victories in each game and though the outcomes are not what we want, we’re getting better on both ends of the court,” he said.

Thorpe opened the scoring on layups by Cole Lazorick and Brody Schrantz before Kurt Jedrejczyk nailed a three. Although the Bombers outshot Jim Thorpe in the first period, they were just 2-11 while the Olympians were much more efficient by making five of their seven shots. Despite the disparity in shooting percentages, the visitors trailed by only six points going into the second session.

Palmerton’s shooting woes continued as it made just 22 percent of its first-half shots and trailed 22-15.

“They played well,” said O’Donnell. “They pressured us into mistakes, but we never gave up the lead. We had our share of good moments and we played good team ball. Besides Pierce stepping up big in the second half, Brody chipped in some key baskets and Cole did the dirty work, playing strong defense and bringing down rebounds that limited many of their shots to one and done.”

O’Donnell called two timeouts late in the fourth to keep his players focused on fundamentals.

“I stressed that we needed to be better at boxing out and getting defensive rebounds,” he said. “That worked out well and they had to foul us in the last few minutes.”

Schrantz was second in scoring for the Olympians with 17 points. McGowan led the Bombers with 11.

BASKET FOR BASKET … Eight times during the game a Palmerton basket cut JT’s lead eight or fewer points and each time the Olympians scored on their next possession to maintain their cushion.

SOLID AT THE LINE … Both teams shot a combined 69 percent from the free throw line that helped keep the score close for much of the game.

TIGER TALES … Jim Thorpe visits Northwestern next Wednesday. The next night the Tigers visit Palmerton.

PALMERTON

McGowan 3-3-5-11, Jedrejczyk 3-1-2-9, Buck 3-0-0-7, Grammes 1-3-4-6, Rex 2-0-0-4, Pengelly 2-0-0-4, Reph 1-0-0-3, Delgado 1-0-0-2, Periera 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 16-7-11-46.

JIM THORPE

P. Gothard 7-7-8-22, Schrantz 6-2-2-17, Lazorick 5-0-2-10, Kiehl 1-2-2-4, Moore 2-0-1-4, Flyzik 0-2-2-2, Antignani 0-0-0-0, Levins 0-0-0-0, Hodor 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 21-11-15-59.

Palmerton 5 10 13 18 - 46

Jim Thorpe 11 12 17 19 - 59

Three-pointers: Palmerton - Jedrejczyk 2, Grammes 1, Buck 1, Reph 1; Jim Thorpe - Schrantz 3, Gothard 1.

Records: Palmerton (2-17; 2-14); Jim Thorpe (9-10; 8-7).