EDITOR’S NOTE: While NEPABasketball.com compiles more complete reports, here is a quick recap of Tuesday’s highlights.
By Tom Robinson, NEPABasketball.com
YATESVILLE – Nick Nocito and Austin Finarelli each scored 22 points and each gave Dallas a four-point lead in the final 20 seconds Tuesday night as the Mountaineers escaped Pittston Area, 56-52, in a Wyoming Valley Conference Division 1 meeting of ranked teams.
Nocito made two key defensive plays in the final 30 seconds and scored the game’s last two points on two free throws with 11.3 seconds remaining. He made a steal and fed Finarelli on the fastbreak for a 54-50 lead with 20 seconds left.
In between, J.J. Walsh scored the last two of his team-high 14 points to pull the Patriots back within two.
Nocito then defended the game’s final errant shot.
“I’m proud of what my guys did,” Dallas coach Mark Belenski said. “They played hard and they played tough.”
Dallas, the fourth-ranked Big School boys team in the My City Mortgage Super Six Power Rankings of District 2 teams, is 2-0 in the division and 4-1 overall. The Mountaineers had beaten Berwick in the only divisional game played prior to Tuesday night’s scheduled conference opener.
No. 3 Pittston Area is 5-2 overall after losing in its division opener.
Nocito and Finarelli combined for all 30 points in the second half when Dallas never trailed.
Pittston Area tied the game three times in the second half, twice coming from five points down to do so.
All other Tuesday league games were openers for both teams: Wyoming Valley West defeated Berwick, 56-45; Holy Redeemer handled Wyoming Seminary, 66-29; Lake-Lehman defeated Hanover Area, 53-39; Wyoming Area routed MMI Prep, 51-27; North Pocono defeated Delaware Valley, 65-49; and Riverside defeated Lakeland, 55-25.
Wyoming Valley West won the only other WVC Division 1 game with Zach Konopke scoring 15 of his 18 points in the second half.
Justice Shoats scored 12 of his 21 points in the first quarter as Holy Redeemer remained undefeated by beating defending champion Wyoming Seminary in WVC Division 2.
Lake-Lehman and Wyoming Area won the other Division 2 games.
Cole Morio had 14 points and 6 rebounds while Corey Bean had 9 points and 14 rebounds for Lake-Lehman.
Dane Schutter scored 25 points as Wyoming Area ruined MMI Prep’s return to the WVC after taking last season off for COVID precautions.
A.J. Nemitz hit three third-quarter 3-pointers and led a balanced attack with 15 points as North Pocono opened defense of its Lackawanna League Division 2 title by pulling away from what had been a four-point game at halftime.
Riverside also opened a title defense, running out to a 27-2 lead after one quarter and playing the entire second half of its Lackawanna Division 3 game in the Mercy Rule.
Western Wayne and Montrose opened Lackawanna girls division title defenses with lopsided victories. Western Wayne ripped West Scranton, 56-16, and Montrose hammered Blue Ridge, 60-14.
Skylar Long scored a game-high 17 points for Division 2 champion Western Wayne, which ran off the final 24 points of the first quarter for a 28-4 lead in the crossover game with Division 1 member West Scranton.
Mya Snyder scored 19 points to lead Montrose, which had a 50-9 lead in the Division 4 game after shutting out Blue Ridge in the third quarter.
In other girls games: North Pocono defeated Delaware Valley, 41-32; Elk Lake handled Forest City, 40-21; Lake-Lehman defeated Wyoming Valley West, 55-45; and Old Forge defeated Mountain View, 39-29.
North Pocono won in Lackawanna Division 2, Elk Lake in Lackawanna Division 4 and Lake-Lehman and Old Forge both won non-league games.
Krista Jones had 14 of her 16 points in the first half to lead Elk Lake.
Chase Purdy scored 23 points for Lake-Lehman while Mackenzie Perluke had 18 for Wyoming Valley West.
