EDITOR’S NOTE: While NEPABasketball.com compiles more complete reports, here is a quick recap of Tuesday’s highlights.
By Tom Robinson, NEPABasketball.com
BETHLEHEM – Dallas started fast, but still needed a late recovery Tuesday night.
Riverside started slow and never fully recovered.
As a result, the Mountaineers left the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association doubleheader at Bethlehem Liberty High School to move on to the state semifinals for the first time in school history while the Lady Vikes had their season come to an end.
Dallas outlasted West Philadelphia, 79-68, in the Class 4A boys nightcap that went into overtime.
The victory sends the Mountaineers (27-3) into Friday’s semifinal against Neumann-Goretti, the Philadelphia school that has won eight state titles since 2010.
Riverside never led in a 46-40 loss to Imhotep Charter in the Class 3A girls opener.
The Lady Vikes finish 23-5 with their deepest run into the state tournament since 1991.
Nick Nocito scored 23 points, including the last 7 of regulation, for Dallas, which outscored West Philadelphia, 18-4, over the last 5:49.
Nocito’s 3-pointer forced overtime. His other late contributions were an assist on the basket that put Dallas ahead to stay as well as its other two overtime baskets, two overtime free throws, a steal in overtime and drawing the fourth and fifth fouls to foul out West Philadelphia’s leading scorer.
Michael Cumbo, Austin Finarelli and Angelo Zarola also made a series of late-game plays to help Dallas go from trailing by four in the fourth quarter to pulling away in overtime.
Cumbo, who finished with 20 points and 10 rebounds, was the leading overtime scorer with six. He hit the basket that put Dallas ahead and helped dictate how much of the remainder of overtime was played.
Finarelli, who had blocked a layup with 1:40 left to keep the Speedboys from restoring their two-possession lead, made a steal with four seconds left after West Philadelphia had held the ball for more than a minute to try to get the last shot. He finished with 13 points and added his fourth steal to open overtime, leading to the go-ahead basket.
Zarola, forced into key minutes after Michael Bufalino fouled out, responded. He came away with two defensive rebounds and a steal in overtime, along with the two free throws that made it a four-point game just 32 seconds into overtime.
West Philadelphia never got to take another shot at a tie or the lead.
“We kept fighting and didn’t give up,” Nocito said.
Jackson Wydra made all four of his shots from the floor and both his attempts from the foul line while adding 10 points.
Nocito finished with seven assists.
Deyishon Miller had 28 points, including the 1,000th of his career, for the Speedboys. Nasir Washington hit five 3-pointers while adding 24.
Dallas scored its first 11 points in a span of 1:10 and had a 23-10 lead late in the first quarter before West Philadelphia began working its way back.
With both teams fighting foul trouble, the Mountaineers were 24-for-28 from the line while the Speedboys were 16-for-24. Nocito was 10-for-11, Cumbo was 7-for-7 and Bufalino joined Wydra and Zarola at 2-for-2.
In the girls game to open the doubleheader, Imhotep Charter made its first 3 shots for a 7-2 lead and Riverside was only within 2 points for 18 seconds after the game’s first minute.
After the Lady Vikes closed to within 36-34 with 4:20 left, the Lady Panthers went on a 10-3 run until Riverside’s Lillie Pon banked in a 3-pointer with 12.8 seconds left for the last points of the game.
Kylie Lavelle, the Drexel University commit who is the second-leading scorer in school history, had 23 points, 10 rebounds and 5 blocked shots in her final game for Riverside.
Katie Slaboda added 10 points. Pon had six points, eight rebounds, three assists and two steals.
Taniyah Finney led Imhotep Charter with 15 points. Janai Smith had 14 and Samya Stevens 10.
MORE TO COME
This is just the start of the coverage recapping the state quarterfinals. Return to this website for more.
