Jack Farrell shoots over West Scranton’s Nick Forsette during Tuesday night’s District 2 Class 5A quarterfinal game at Lake-Lehman High School.
Fred Adams | for Times Leader
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Dallas’ Logan Evanosky grabs a rebound in front of West Scranton’s Brandon Barnes during the first half of a District 2 Class 5A quarterfinal game Tuesday night at Lake-Lehman High School.
Fred Adams | for Times Leader
Dallas’ Austin Finarelli passes the ball as he slides across the floor under pressure from West Scranton’s Londell Wright.
Fred Adams | for Times Leader
Dallas’ Nick Nocito brings the ball down court with West Scranton’s Lewin Fernandez trailing him.
Fred Adams | for Times Leader
Dallas’s Austin Finarelli takes a look at the basket with West Scranton’s Londell Wright guarding.
Fred Adams | for Times Leader
LEHMAN TWP. — As West Scranton’s Londell Wright drilled a 3-pointer to end the first half to pull his team within one, and upset appeared brewing Tuesday night.
Dallas, though, would have no part of it and demonstrated that in the third quarter.
The Mountaineers dominated after halftime, getting easy baskets while West Scranton went completely cold on the way to a 57-39 victory in a District 2 Class 5A boys basketball quarterfinal game at Lake-Lehman High School.
Third-seeded Dallas (18-6) will play second-seeded Abington Heights (17-6) on Friday in a semifinal game at a site and time to be announced. Abington Heights dealt with its own scare, defeating seventh-seeded North Pocono 48-46 on a buzzer-beater.
Dallas battled the Invaders throughout the first half, with Wright’s perimeter shooting and Brandon Barnes’ inside game causing issues. Both problem disappeared in the third quarter.
“We executed,” Dallas coach Mark Belenski said. “We played Dallas basketball and executed. We executed in the first quarter and in the third quarter.”
Dallas held West Scranton (13-10) without a shot until 4:16 of the third quarter. The Invaders turned over the ball five times in that span, allowing the Mountaineers to ease away a bit 32-26. West Scranton was 0-for-4 from the field and its three points came from the foul line.
“We had three quick turnovers to start the third quarter,” West Scranton coach Jack Lyons said. “We didn’t handle the ball and they made their run. That, obviously, gave them confidence. We just wore down and they wore us down. That’s a credit to Dallas.”
The turnovers allowed Dallas to score in transition and take a 41-28 lead into the fourth. Luke DelGaudio also scored a pair of baskets off of offensive rebounds, another factors that seemed possible the way teammate Austin Finarelli found his way inside in the second quarter. Finarelli scored 10 of his 15 points in that period, often finding creases to the basket.
West Scranton’s offensive woes extended into the fourth quarter. When Cayden Merrifield hit a 3-pointer with 6:32 remaining, it was the Invaders’ first field goal since Wright’s 3-pointer to end the first half.
“We did exactly what we wanted to do and held their leading scorer (Merrifield) to eight points,” Belenski said. “We was averaging like 22 per game.”
The Mountaineers were also strong on the boards with a 24-17 rebounding advantage when the game was handed over to the reserves with 3:22 to play. DelGaudio and Jack Farrell had seven rebounds each. Dylan Schuster had five and Logan Evanosky came off the bench to snag four more.
District 2 Class 5A Quarterfinals
Dallas 57, West Scranton 39
WEST SCRANTON (39) — Cayden Merrifield 2 3-4 8, Nick Forsette 1 0-0 3, Brandon Barnes 3 1-2 7, Lewin Fernandez 0 2-2 2, Londell Wright 4 0-0 11, Brennan Burnside 0 1-2 1, Sincere Terrell 0 2-2 2, Ryan Bresser 1 0-0 2, Jared Morris 1 0-2 2, Danny Keeler 0 1-2 1. Totals 12 10-16 39.
DALLAS (57) — Jack Farrell 6 0-0 13, Austin Finarelli 6 2-3 15, Nick Nocito 5 1-1 11, Dylan Schuster 1 0-0 2, Luke DelGaudio 5 0-0 10, Sam Nocito 1 0-0 2, Logan Evanosky 0 0-0 0, Michael Bufalino 0 0-0 0, Darius Wallace 1 0-0 3, Drew Dickson 0 0-0 0, EJ Matushek 0 0-0 0, Zeid Alhashemi 0 0-0 0, Drew Lojewski 0 0-0 0, Aidan Conrad 0 0-0 0, Jackson Wydra 0 0-0 0, Angelo Zarola 0 0-0 0. Totals 25 3-4 57.
West Scranton`13`12`3`11 — 39
Dallas`14`12`15`16 — 57
Three-point goals — WS 5 (Merrifield, Forsette, Wright 3). DAL 3 (Farrell, Finarelli, Wallace).