In the game of basketball, the come-from-behind rally is electric.

The team making the comeback is using every bit of their abilities in an attempt to overcome a large deficit.

The fans of the trailing team get loud. Even the gymnasium lights seem brighter during the one-sided barrage of points.

Down by 11 points at halftime, Jim Thorpe played its best basketball in the third period, outscoring North Schuylkill 12-2. But the Olympians’ energy wavered in the final eight minutes and they dropped a 45-38 decision to eliminate them from the District 11 4A boys tournament.

The game didn’t begin well for the Thorpe. Derryl Fisher’s three-point basket at the six-minute mark of the opening period gave the Olympians what would be their only lead of the game at 3-2, and it was the only points they would score in the first eight minutes.

“We didn’t hit enough shots early in the game,” said Jim Thorpe head coach Jason McElmoyle. “And we didn’t put enough pressure up front, giving them too many backdoor layups.”

The second period was even with the scoring, but statistically the third period was difficult to explain.

After Jack Keiter scored on a running one-hander at the 7:30 mark to lift the Spartans’ lead to 13 at 28-15, his team didn’t score for the rest of the period. The Olympians (16-9) began the quarter shooting no better. In fact, both teams combined for 18 missed shots - a drought that lasted five minutes and thirty seconds after Keiter’s bucket.

Thorpe’s furious comeback began with an 8-0 run when Kaiden Herron scored on a baseline jumper with two minutes left in the third. Thirty seconds later, David Richards drained a baseline three-pointer and Heron closed the score to 28-22 on a driving layup with 1:12 still to go before the start of the fourth period.

Fisher was fouled shooting a three and his perfection from the line ended the period with the Olympians down by just three at 28-25.

“Basketball is a long game and it’s a game of runs,” said Spartan mentor William Bracey, who called a timeout late in the third to settle down his team. “Our strategy was to slow the game down because they ran on us pretty good the last time we played them.

“I told our players the mentally toughest win the game. In our case, we survived their third period rally and got back to playing our style in the fourth period.”

Keiter’s three-pointer to open the final frame lifted the Spartan lead to six, and a driving layup later by sophomore Zane Zulkowski brought the score to 33-26. But Herron’s drive down the lane and Fisher’s baseline jumper with 3:45 left pulled Thorpe within 33-30.

The teams traded buckets after that, but Drew Miller’s trifecta with just over two minutes put North Schuylkill (13-10) up by seven.

The Olympians’ spirited comeback, however, was not over. Richards drove the baseline for two, and Colby McHugh brought the home team crowd to their feet with a three-pointer to make the score 41-37 with 95 ticks left on the clock.

But the Spartans would score four of the game’s final five points to advance to the district semifinals.

“Our whole team played hard to come back the way we did,” said McElmoyle. “Credit our seniors, too. They were diving on the floor for loose balls when we had tightened up our defense.

“We got to the Schuylkill League finals for the first time in 36 years of our school’s history. I can’t say enough about how hard the kids worked as a team.”

BASKET BLUES

... During its three-point first quarter, Jim Thorpe shot just 1-for-12 from the field. North Schuylkill returned the favor with their two-point third period by shooting 1-for-14.

NOSE-TO-NOSE

... Thorpe’s frantic comeback was fueled by a tight man-to-man defense that caused three backcourt violations against the Spartans in the third period.

NORTH SCHUYLKILL

Keiter 6-3-4-17, Zulkowski 4-0-0-9, Scott 4-1-3-9, Miller -3-0-0-8, Fisher 1-0-0-2, Wallace 0-0-0-0, Conti 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 18-4-8-45.

JIM THORPE

Fisher 4-4-5-14, Herron 5-1-4-11, Richards 2-0-0-5, C. McHugh 1-1-3-4, Warner 1-0-0-2, Rosahac 0-2-2-2, DiSanto 0-0-0-0, Heydt 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 13-8-14-38.

North Schuylkill 14 12 2 17 - 45

Jim Thorpe 3 12 10 13 - 38

Three-pointers: North Schuylkill - Keiter 2, Miller 2, Zulkowski 1; Jim Thorpe - Fisher 2, Richards 1, C. McHugh 1.