Walsh leads way in Pittston Area victory over Dallas

The Dallas Mountaineers traveled for Pittston Area on Friday night to take on the Patriots. Both teams start their Conference slate and are hoping to start off 1-0. Dallas is coming off a win over Old Forge on Monday. The Patriots are coming off a victory in the third place game of the McGrane tournament over Hanover Area last Friday.
Pittston Area started off by scoring the game's first five points and then a three pointer by Nick Nocito would give the Mountaineers their first points of the game. The Patriots would lead 8-3 but a basket by Jack Farrell, a free throw by Dylan Schuster and a steal and layup by Austin Finarelli would tie the game at eight. Nick Nocito would give the Mountaineers their first lead with a three pointer. The Patriots would take a 15-13 lead with a three pointer by JJ Walsh. It looked like Dallas would take a 16-15 lead until Walsh hit a buzzer beating three to end the first quarter and the Patriots would lead 18-16 at the end of 1. Brennan Higgins would give Pittston Area a four point lead but five straight points from Farrell would make it 21-20 in favor of Dallas. JJ Walsh would hit a three to make it 23-21. The Mountaineers would tie the game at 23 on a Luke DelGaudio basket halfway through the second quarter. A pair of free throws by DelGaudio would give Dallas a 25-23 lead and would lead 28-27 at halftime.
The Mountaineers would increase their lead to 4 points but the Patriots would eventually tie the game at 35 on a Walsh three pointer and take the lead on a Higgins basket. Pittston Area would take a seven point lead but a foul and then a technical foul could loom big for Dallas. The Mountaineers would hit 3 of 4 to cut the lead to four. The Patriots would lead 46-43 at the end of the third quarter. JJ Walsh would start with six straight points to give Pittston Area a nine point lead. The lead woud increase to as much as 11. The Mountaineers would try and comeback. They would get to as much as six points after another technical foul was assessed and Dallas would make both and call a timeout. They would miss the shot after the timeout and the Patriots would take a big 66-59 home victory over the Dallas Mountaineers

Thoughts on the game: The game was a very interesting affair with several lead changes and was pretty close for three quarters. Pittston Area's JJ Walsh had a great game. He had 33 points and was the difference tonight. Brennan Higgins also had a good game with 17. For Dallas, Jack Farrell had a good game with 28 and Nick Nocito added 10. WVC Division 1 looks to be a really interesting race with several teams vying for the crown.


Pittston Area 66 Dallas 59
Dallas
Nick Nocito 10
Jack Farrell 28
Dylan Schuster 6
Austin Finarelli 8
Luke DelGaudio 5
Sam Nocito 2

Pittston Area
JJ Walsh 33
Brennan Higgins 17
Joe Cencetti 2
Mike George 8
Logan Booth 4
Andrew Krawczyk 2