Austin Finarelli sped through the final 27 points he needed to reach 1,000 for his career and Dallas raced past visiting Crestwood, 81-43, in a Wyoming Valley Conference Division 1 game Friday night.
Finarelli needed less than three quarters to arrive at the milestone even though the entire second half was played under the Mercy Rule after Dallas stormed through the defending champions with for 53 first-half points, including 30 in the first quarter.
“Everyone was making shots,” Finarelli said. “We were playing up-tempo.
“We pressed them right from the start so that really got the tempo going for us. We just got rolling.”
They did not stop until Finarelli made a steal in the backcourt and drove to the basket for a 67-32 lead with 1:57 left in the third.
“We really tried not to talk about it that much,” Finarelli said. “I knew I was somewhat close to it, but didn’t know exactly, so I just went in focused on the game.”
An update from coach Mark Belenski during a timeout with 4:17 left in the third changed that.
“He said I needed two points and I was really shocked,” Finarelli said. “I didn’t realize in the game that I had that many.”
The steal allowed Finarelli to get two more, touching off a celebration as his teammates rushed to meet him under the basket where he scored the 1,000th point.
The Mountaineers have more about which to be excited.
Dallas went through a stretch of three straight games against Class 6A teams, then faced the defending district Class 5A champions in Crestwood.
After two straight losses that hurt the team in the WVC Division 1 race, the Mountaineers have bounced back strong with wins over Williamsport to move back to the top of the District 2 Class 4A playoff race and Crestwood to climb into a second-place tie in Division 1. They are 5-2 in the division and 8-3 overall.
“Losing those two was definitely tough for us, but the way we bounced back was huge,” said Finarelli, an Elizabethtown College commit who is averaging more than 22 points per game.
The Mountaineers were simply too much for the Comets Friday night.
They hit six 3-pointers in the first quarter for a 30-15 lead.
Three players combined for all the scoring.
Finarelli made one of the 3-pointers and had 11 points. Michael Cumbo hit twice from long distance while scoring 10. Nick Nocito drained three 3-pointers for nine points.
The lead reached 53-23 at halftime when Dallas scored the last 15 points of a second quarter that included 10 more points by Finarelli and 6 by Michael Bufalino.
Finarelli hit two 3-pointers in the second quarter, Cumbo made another and Zach Paczewski added two later to give the team 11 in the game.
Nocito finished with 15 points and Cumbo had 13.
Crestwood (2-4, 6-6) was led by Bryce Vieney with 14 points and Zayne Dunsmuir with 12.
