WILKES-BARRE — Wyoming Area was one second from defeat Tuesday night. Then 1.3 seconds. And then three seconds.
Plus, there was a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit.
Yet the Warriors overcame every obstacle to defeat Holy Redeemer 74-68 in triple overtime in a Wyoming Valley Conference Division 2 boys basketball game.
Freshman Luke Kopetchny gave Wyoming Area the lead for good, 68-65, in the third overtime with a corner 3-pointer. He later scored on a baseline cut off a precision pass from Anthony DeLucca to increase the lead 72-67 with about 30 seconds left.
Redeemer managed a lone free throw the rest of the way.
Wyoming Area trailed 46-36 with 6:54 left in regulation.
“In years past, that’s what kind of plagued us against this team,” Wyoming Area coach Anthony Macario said. “We came out playing well and they made some difficult shots from the perimeter and had it up to 10.
“I give our guys so much credit because at no point in the game did we get rattled.”
Redeemer took a 50-48 lead with one second left in regulation on a pair of free throws by David Popson. A long inbound pass by Wyoming Area sailed from one end of the court to the other untouched, giving Redeemer possession under its own basket.
But an offensive foul before the inbound pass sent Wyoming Area’s Tyler Sciandra to the foul line and he sank two shots to send the game into overtime.
“I just felt confident,” said Sciandra, who finished with 20 points and nine rebounds. “We practice that every day. After every drill we do, we practice free throws. So I was ready for the moment.”
The first overtime ended with DeLucca drive through a crowd to hit a basket with 1.3 seconds left, tying the score 57-57 and resulting in a second overtime.
DeLucca had more dramatics in the second extra period. His 3-pointer from the right side tied the score again, this time 65-65, with three seconds remaining.
“That’s one of those you shoot it right off the hand and you know it’s going in,” DeLucca said. “I shot it with confidence. My coaches drew up the play for me and put their trust in me and I knew I had to knock it down for my guys.”
Wyoming Area (2-0 Div. 2, 7-4 overall) also knocked down two-time defending divisional champ Redeemer (2-1, 6-6) from first place. The teams play again Jan. 30 at Wyoming Area.
Wyoming Area 74, Holy Redeemer 68 (3OT)
WYOMING AREA (74) — Sciandra 7 4-6 20, DeLucca 5 1-2 13, Kopetchny 5 1-2 13, Noone 3 0-2 6, Rusinchak 1 0-0 2, Schutter 4 11-16 20, Kruszka 0 0-0 0. Totals 25 17-28 74
HOLY REDEEMER (68) — Quaglia 2 1-4 7, Atherton 4 1-3 10, Sekol 0 0-0 0, Sabatini 4 0-0 8, Locari 0 0-0 0, Hurst 2 1-2 6, Sock 3 1-1 9, Dubaskas 1 0-0 2, Popson 8 9-10 26. Totals 24 13-22 68
Wyoming Area`11`8`16`15`7`8`9 — 74
Holy Redeemer`6`15`22`7`7`8`3 — 68
Three-point goals: WA 7 (Sciandra 2, DeLucca 2, Kopetchny 2, Schutter), HR 7 (Quaglia 2, Sock 2, Atherton, Hurst, Popson).