DALLAS TWP. — Wyoming Area relived a nightmare from two weeks ago in the first quarter against Dallas Tuesday night.
Then the Warriors awoke and everything changed.
Second-quarter defense led to some much-needed confidence and second-half offense led to a win as Wyoming Area defeated Dallas 69-61 in the District 2 Class 4A boys basketball third-place game to play its way into the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Tournament.
Lukas Burakiewicz and Luke Kopetchny each had 27 points for Wyoming Area (17-9), which will open state play Friday.
Burakiewicz had 23 of his points in the second half. He also grabbed nine rebounds and dished out four assists.
Kopetchny didn’t have a field goal after halftime, but was 8-for-8 from the foul line in the fourth quarter. He hit four free throws in the final 29.2 seconds to finish 16-of-19 from the line. Kopetchny worked both ends of the floor, recording a double-double by getting six of his 11 rebounds on offense and also contributing three steals on defense.
Back on Jan. 13, Dallas rolled Wyoming Area 69-42 in a Wyoming Valley Conference Tournament semifinal game. Dallas led that game 42-18 at halftime and Wyoming Area coach Anthony Macario had a brief flashback.
“For a minute, yeah,” Macario said. “We just tried to remind our kids what it took them to get to this point to be able to have the opportunity to play in this game. It was just toughness, focus, intensity and heart and they responded really well.”
Senior 3-point ace Anthony DeLucca said he and a few others were sick that game and wanted to make amends.
Redemption didn’t look promising early on. Dallas scored the game’s first 11 points and led 17-4 with just over three minutes remaining in the opening quarter.
“This team is tough,” said DeLucca, who nailed three 3-pointers in the third quarter. “We have a bunch of winners in the locker room. We have a bunch of tough guys that never give up and we knew our season was on the line tonight.
“You look up at 17-4, you get together and say, ‘Hey listen. We got to chip away. You don’t have to get the 13 points back in one shot.’ You got to chip away, you got to get stops and you got to put the ball in the hoop.”
Wyoming Area took its first lead, 33-32 at 4:27 of the third quarter, on consecutive 3-pointers by DeLucca and Burakiewicz. Burakiewicz’s basket started a 58-second span where the lead changed hands five times.
A basket by Drew Keating to start the fourth quarter gave Wyoming Area a 48-42 lead. Dallas answered back with a 9-0 run led by Jude Nocito, who finished with a game-high 30 points.
Wyoming Area regained the lead — albeit a tenuous one — for good on a three-point play by Burakiewicz followed by two free throws by Kopetchny with 3:38 left.
Kopetchny’s two free throws with 29.2 seconds remaining made it a two-possession game, 67-61. The Mountaineers then had an offensive sequence where they had four 3-point attempts, but the misses only ate up much of the remaining time.
Keating added eight rebounds.
Macario also commended Shane Pepe for his defensive effort, handling a mid-game adjustment against Nocito, who put together a 30-point game and was threatening to take control.
