Dallas’ Michael Cumbo (23) blocks Pittston Area’s Ethan Ghannam’s shot late in Tuesday’s game as the Mountaineers held on to win.
Tony Callaio | For Times Leader
Click here to subscribe today or Login.
Pittston Area’s Dominic Jannuzzi (42) drives the lane for a layup with Dallas’ Darius Wallace (11) going for the block on Tuesday night.
Tony Callaio | For Times Leader
YATESVILLE — Pittston Area never forgot where Austin Finarelli and Nick Nocito were Tuesday night.
The Patriots just couldn’t stop the Dallas backcourt combination in the game’s most important moments.
Finarelli and Nocito split 44 points and scored all 30 second-half points that the Mountaineers used to emerge with a 56-52 road victory in an early-season meeting of likely Wyoming Valley Conference Division 1 contenders.
“That’s basically how we’ve been playing all year long,” Dallas coach Mark Belenski said. “ … We lean on those two guys. They make good decisions and good plays.”
As a result, the Mountaineers came away winners in the meeting of the two Division 1 teams that had the most impressive runs through December non-league play.
Dallas, which won the only conference game played prior to Tuesday night, improved to 2-0 in Division 1 and 4-1 overall. Pittston is 0-1 and 5-2.
“It’s only the start,” Pittston Area coach Al Semenza said, referring to the game more than once as “Round One”.
Pittston Area put four scorers in double figures. J.J. Walsh had 14 points, Jack Locker hit three 3-pointers to finish with 13. Ethan Ghannam and Anthony Cencetti had 10 each.
The Patriots could not, however, overcome the production of Finarelli and Nocito.
“We wanted to make sure we found the shooters, which I thought we did,” Semenza said. “ … But, you look at the stats and the end of the night and they scored an awful lot of points.
“They’re clever. You have to give them credit. They create for each other. They see the floor tremendously. They made some big shots and they’re strong. They’re both physical players.”
Finarelli and Nocito each scored off steals in the first 27 seconds of the second half for a 30-25 lead.
Pittston Area rallied to tie twice in the third quarter and once in the fourth quarter, but never moved ahead.
The Patriots had the ball in the final 35 seconds down two, but Nocito stole a post entry pass.
Instead of going into a shell, Nocito pushed the ball up the floor and Finarelli followed his lead, taking it to the basket to score for a four-point lead with 20 seconds left.
“I saw the blue jersey ahead,” Nocito said. “It’s just about trusting your teammate.”
Similarly, Walsh never hesitated in going right to the other end of the floor to bring Pittston Area back within two with 12.2 seconds left.
Nocito was fouled less than a second later and made both ends of a one-and-one, then contested the 3-pointer on the other end to put the game away.
“I’m proud of what my guys did,” Belenski said. “They played hard and they played tough.”
Dallas 56, Pittston Area 52
DALLAS (56) – Austin Finarelli 9 2-3 22, Nick Nocito 9 3-3 22, Jackson Wydra 2 0-0 5, Darius Wallace 0 0-0 0, Michael Bufalino 1 0-0 2, Michael Cumbo 1 3-3 5, Jade Nocito 0 0-0 0, E.J. Matushek 0 0-0 0, Angelo Zarola 0 0-1 0. Totals 22 8-10 56.
PITTSTON AREA (52) – J.J. Walsh 3 7-7 14, Ethan Ghannam 3 4-6 10, Jack Locker 5 0-0 13, Anthony Cencetti 5 0-0 10, Dominic Jannuzzi 2 0-0 5, Silvio Giardina 0 0-0 0, Jack Long 0 0-0 0. Totals 18 11-13 52.
Dallas`17`9`17`13 — 56
Pittston Area`10`15`13`14 — 52
Three-point goals – DAL 4 (Finarelli 2, NNocito 1, Wallace 1), PA 5 (Locker 3, Walsh 1, Jannuzzi 1).