Dallas players celebrate the Wyoming Valley Conference Tournament championship.
Fred Adams | For Times Leader
Dallas’ Jack Dale puffs out his shirt after a 54-51 win Sunday over Holy Redeemer for the Wyoming Valley Conference Tournament championship.
Fred Adams | For Times Leader
Dallas players react as the final buzzer sounds to ends their 54-51 win over Holy Redeemer for the Wyoming Valley Conference Tournament championship Sunday afternoon.
Fred Adams | For Times Leader
Dallas forward Pat Flanagan (center) get fouled in the final seconds by Holy Redeemer’s Brayden Sock (23) and David Popson (35) after pulling down a rebound.
Fred Adams | For Times Leader
Dallas foward Pat Flanagan and Holy Redeemer’s Brayden Sock (23) chase a loose ball in the fourth quarter.
Fred Adams | For Times Leader
PLAINS TWP. — Down 13 entering the fourth quarter Sunday afternoon, Dallas could have simply written off the Wyoming Valley Conference boys basketball championship.
Instead, the Mountaineers used an avalanche of points to capture their second consecutive crown.
Dallas scored the game’s final 16 points and held Holy Redeemer to two points in the fourth quarter to come away with a 54-51 victory at Wilkes-Barre Area High School.
Sophomore Pat Flanagan started the run with a rebound basket and preserved the win by rebounding his missed free throw with 6.4 seconds left.
“It’s great,” said Flanagan, who tied his career high with 20 points. “We’ve been playing every week in the summer. We knew what we had. We just had to give it what we got and we knew we had them.”
Redeemer (14-10) appeared to have Dallas (17-8) in trouble at the end of the third quarter. Kyaire McLean completed a three-point play and Brayden Sock scored on a fastbreak to give the Royals a 49-36 lead entering the fourth.
Cody Quaglia then hit an outside shot to keep Redeemer’s lead at 13, 51-38, with just over six minutes remaining.
The Royals’ offense then disappeared.
After Flanagan put in a rebound, Dallas was off and running. He and Joey Nocito then hit consecutive 3-pointers to cut the deficit to 51-46 with 2:57 left.
Dallas finally took the lead, 52-51, on a free throw by Flanagan with 32.6 seconds left. It was Dallas’ first lead since 8-7 at 5:06 of the first quarter.
Flanagan missed his second free throw, but Jack Dale rebounded to keep the possession alive and that eventually got Joey Nocito to the foul line.
“Jack Dale is walking around this gym saying he did nothing,” Dallas coach Mark Belenski said. “That was huge, man, that was huge.
“It’s the little things people don’t know about. It’s not about who always scores. It’s a team effort.”
Dale also had a big rebound earlier in the 16-0 run to close out the game.
Dallas senior Jude Nocito led all scorers with 21 points despite not feeling well.
“I don’t know where to start,” Belenski said. “They don’t quit. They’re intelligent. They know what they need to do. I said, ‘Don’t start chucking threes, get baskets.’ “
Redeemer big man David Popson led his team with 19 points. Evan Licari had 11 with his 3-point shooting helping the Royals maintain a lead most of the game.
Both teams will have quick turnarounds.
Dallas will host Tunkhannock in a District 2 Class 4A quarterfinal game at 7 p.m. Tuesday. Redeemer hosts Dunmore in a D2-3A quarterfinal game 7 p.m. Wednesday.
WVC Boys Championship
Dallas 54, Holy Redeemer 51
DALLAS (54) — Jude Nocito 7 6-8 21, Joey Nocito 2 3-6 8, Jack Dale 0 0-0 0, Pat Flanagan 7 3-6 20, Tyce Mason 0 0-0 0, Kael Berry 2 1-2 5, Chris Flanagan 0 0-0 0, Brady Mizzer 0 0-0 0, Brady Zapoticky 0 0-0 0, Max Scatton 0 0-0 0. Totals 18 13- 24 54.
HOLY REDEEMER (51) — David Popson 6 7-7 19, Brayden Sock 1 0-0 2, Cody Quaglia 4 0-0 9, Evan Licari 4 0-0 0 11, Jack Hurst 0 2-2 2, Kayaire McLean 3 1-1 8, Quron Drayton 0 0-0 0, Logan Shrader 0 0-0 0, Max Mohutsky 0 0-0 0. Totals 18 10-10 51.
Dallas`14`13`9`18 — 54
Holy Redeemer`22`9`18`2 — 51
Three-point goals: DAL 5 (Ju.Nocito, Jo.Nocito, P.Flanagan 3). HR 5 (Quaglia, Licari 3, McLean).
