Nick Nocito went into Saturday’s game with at rival Lake-Lehman needing 16 points to reach 1,000 for his career.
Nocito did not waste any time becoming the second Dallas player to get there in less than 24 hours.
The senior guard reached the mark on a wing jumper with 1:56 left in the first quarter as the Mountaineers ran over the Black Knights early in an 85-26, non-league rout.
“It felt great,” said Nocito, who followed teammate Austin Finarelli to the mark. “We really didn’t talk about it going up to it, but once Austin got it and we knew I was next, we kind of said, ‘let’s get me out of the way because Pittston’s a big game and we want to be able to focus on that (Tuesday)’.
“We knew I had a chance against Lehman, so I wanted to try to get them early.”
Nocito made it look easy. He added one more basket for an 18-point first quarter to help Dallas to a 29-13 lead, then one more basket in the second quarter to finish his day with 20 points.
“We want to come out and play our game,” Nocito said after the Mountaineers followed up a 30-point first quarter and 53-point first half against Crestwood Friday night. “We want to play fast.
“The last couple games we got off to hot starts and then just built off it.”
The hot starts cover three games in four days, three straight wins since the Mountaineers lost to Wyoming Valley Conference Division 1 leader Hazleton Area. They also went up 24-11 after one quarter on Williamsport Wednesday.
“We know on offense what we can do and we’re just really focusing on bearing down on defense now and it’s all been working out lately,” Nocito said.
The defense dominated the middle quarters, holding Lake-Lehman to one field goal and five points while expanding the lead to 65-18 going to the fourth.
Zach Paczewski hit two 3-pointers while scoring eight points in the second half. He had 12 points as did Nick Williams, who did all his scoring in the second half.
Jackson Wydra, Darius Wallace and Cameron Faux finished with eight points each as the Mountaineers (9-3) got a dozen players involved in the high-scoring effort.
Wydra did all his scoring during the first quarter. Wallace had six points in the second. Faux did his scoring in the second half.
Cole Morio went 7-for-8 from the line while leading Lake-Lehman (3-8) with nine points.
