NORTHAMPTON — Speed and athleticism were two words used to describe the Allentown Central Catholic boys basketball team by Jim Thorpe boys basketball head coach Jason McElmoyle.

He was accurate on both of those traits as the second-seeded Vikings had and used both of them in turning a closely-contested, three-point contest after the opening quarter into a 33-point win, defeating the seventh-seeded Olympians 69-36 Friday night in the District 11 4A quarterfinal round at Northampton High School.

“One of our goals is always to make the district playoffs,” said McElmoyle. “I’m happy. I told our seniors I’m in my fifth year and this is the fourth straight time we’ve made districts. I’m proud of them. I thought we came out and played hard and gave them our best shot in the first quarter, but they’re a very good team.

“They’re the second seed for a reason. Unfortunately they hit some shots that we wanted them to be forced to take. I’m proud of our guys for getting to this point again.”

Jim Thorpe came out with a game plan and executed it early. Although both teams, after having extensive time off from their last game, struggled from the floor early and tried to shake off rust, the Olympians were able to hold a high-scoring Vikings offense to just 12 points in the first quarter.

“We knew they have some good guard play and go through them,” McElmoyle said. “We started in a 3-2 zone to help prevent easy shots from the three-point line. They still found a way, unfortunately.

“Our guys played hard defensively but they still hit some big shots. Offensive rebounds killed us, but they’re a big and physical team too, and a little faster.”

Central broke through in the second quarter and seemingly took the game over, outscoring Jim Thorpe 25-8. In each of the first two quarters, the Olympians offense took a while to get going. They didn’t connect on their first field goal until 2:30 was left in the first quarter, and in the second quarter it wasn’t until there was 1:53 to go.

After going into the locker rooms at halftime ahead 37-17, the Vikings kept their foot on the gas in the third quarter, outscoring Jim Thorpe 22-9 to take a 59-26 advantage heading into the final quarter.

“They came at us fast there and scored in bunches,” said McElmoyle. “We had a great defensive first quarter, then before you know it they’re up by double digits.”

FEARLESS FOURSOME … McElmoyle will see four seniors graduate, three of them starters. He described the class as ‘fearless’ and ‘leaders’ as the first class in his tenure to play in districts every season since their freshman year.

OLYMPIANS LEADERS … Jim Thorpe was led in scoring by sophomore Caiden Hurley, who finished with 10. Classmate Chris Condly tallied eight points and seniors Tyler Burak and Nate Rosahac each chipped in six.

TURNOVER TROUBLE … The Olympians lost control of the game because of Central’s speed and trap defense. They were forced into 20 turnovers.

JIM THORPE

Rosahac 2-2-3-6, Searfoss 0-1-2-1, Burak 2-0-0-6, Santiago 0-0-0-0, Adames 1-1-2-3, Lauer 1-0-0-2, Cannariato 0-0-0-0, Hurley 4-0-0-10, Condly 3-0-0-8, Marykwas 0-0-0-0, Joyce 0-0-0-0, Richards 0-0-0-0.

CENTRAL CATHOLIC

Spugnardi 3-2-3-8, Green 1-4-4-6, Thomas 0-0-0-0, Csensits 0-3-4-3, Vaughan 5-0-0-12, Burmeister 0-0-0-0, Faust 0-1-2-1, Filchner 4-2-2-13, Khoury 1-0-0-2, Joyce 2-0-1-4, Kratzer 4-8-8-20.

Jim Thorpe 9 8 9 10 - 36

Central Catholic 12 25 22 10 - 69

Three Pointers: Jim Thorpe - Hurley 2, Burak 2, Condly 2; Central Catholic - Kratzer 4, Filchner 3, Vaughan 2.