After the first two minutes of Tuesday night’s Northwestern Lehigh-Jim Thorpe boys’ basketball game, it appeared the Tigers were going to run the Olympians right out of their own gym.

The visitors raced to a 10-0 lead that quickly became 13-0, while the only marks in the scorebook for Jim Thorpe were three personal fouls.

But the home team clawed its way back into a competitive game before ultimately falling to Northwestern, 59-50.

“We wanted to come out with a fast start,” Northwestern coach Pat Wanamaker said, noting he was not pleased with his team’s sluggish opening in the previous night’s game against Palisades.

The Tigers’ 13-0 run was sparked by four 3-pointers — two each by Cannon Fitch and Brady Krimmel. The Olympians finally got on the board with 3:50 left in the opening period on a driving layup by Cole Lazorick.

Jim Thorpe trimmed the deficit to eight points at 18-10 on a 3-pointer by Brody Schrantz, and a bank shot by Pierce Gothard. Following a running one-hander from Fitch, Schrantz knocked down a jumper to keep the Olympians within eight heading into the second period.

“That killed us,” Jim Thorpe coach Brian O’Donnell said of the early run. “It was a punch in the mouth when we were down 13-0, but we battled back to make it a good game.”

Northwestern stretched its lead back to 12 when Mason Bollinger scored midway through the second quarter, but a top-of-the-key jumper from Schrantz — who led all scorers with 21 points — cut the margin to 10 at halftime.

The Olympians continued to chip away in the third quarter, pulling within three points on Lazorick’s bank shot off a steal with 2 minutes remaining in the period.

“We got close,” O’Donnell said, “but they showed why they are such a good team by keeping us at arm’s length.”

A driving layup by Gothard at the 6:55 mark of the fourth quarter kept Jim Thorpe within striking distance at 44-40. Northwestern answered with an 8-2 run, pushing the lead back to nine at 50-41 with four minutes left.

“We played our brand of basketball,” Wanamaker said. “It was a total team effort. We set the tone defensively late in the game, and got points in transition.”

Jim Thorpe refused to fade quietly. Lazorick’s putback and a Gothard layup made it 50-43 with 1:25 remaining, but Northwestern’s patient half-court offense forced the Olympians to foul and put the Tigers in the bonus. Free throws by Bollinger, Malachi Coleman, Fitch and Krimmel sealed the win.

“We showed no quit, and we proved we could hang with an elite team,” O’Donnell said. “We were physical the whole game, but I thought we forced some shots when we should have slowed down our possessions and worked for open looks.”

Wanamaker said his team still needs to finish better at the rim.

“We missed a fair amount of shots, but give credit to Jim Thorpe,” he said. “They made it tough on us, especially in the second half, to get our guys open for better looks.”

Krimmel led Northwestern with 16 points. Gothard added 18 for Jim Thorpe, second only to Schrantz’s game-high 21.

CONTACT SPORT … A total of 34 shooting fouls resulted in 25-of-34 shooting from the line, a combined 74% effort.

PRESSURE POINT … Northwestern mixed in a half-court press in the second quarter, and went full court for much of the fourth. While Jim Thorpe handled the pressure well, the strategy drained clock and proved a factor late.

UP NEXT … Northwestern visits Lehighton on Friday night for a 6:45 p.m. start. Jim Thorpe travels to Panther Valley on Thursday at 7 p.m.

NORTHWESTERN

Krimmel 4-6-6-16, Bollinger 6-3-6-15, Coleman 5-5-6-15, Fitch 4-1-2-11, Zimmerman 1-0-0-2, Lagowy 0-0-0-0, Wertman 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 20-15-22-59.

JIM THORPE

Schrantz 6-7-7-21, Gothard 8-2-3-18, Lazorick 4-1-2-9, Kiehl 1-0-0-2, Antignani 0-0-0-0, Levins 0-0-0-0, Moore 0-0-0-0, Hodor 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 19-10-12-50.

Northwestern 20 12 10 17 - 59

Jim Thorpe 12 10 14 14 - 50

Three-Pointers: Northwestern - Fitch 2, Krimmel 2; Jim Thorpe - Schrantz 2.

Records: Northwestern (12-5; 11-2); Jim Thorpe (8-8; 6-6).