COVINGTON TWP. – The significance of the accomplishment was not about to escape the Dallas boys basketball team.
After losing to Abington Heights in the semifinals or finals of the District 2 Class 5A tournament each of the past three seasons, the Mountaineers broke through Friday night with a 49-39 victory at North Pocono High School.
The result ended streaks of eight straight championships and 27 straight wins by the Comets in district or subregional competition. It also forced Abington Heights into a Tuesday night third-place game where it was playing Pittston Area to try to extend its streak of state tournament appearances to 14.
“It was something we were reminded about all week,” said senior forward Jack Farrell, who led the Mountaineers in points with 15 and rebounds with eight.
Austin Finarelli got Dallas the start it needed with seven straight points for an early 9-0 lead.
Just a sophomore, he did not need to be told about Abington Heights and its list of achievements.
“We knew they were on top for a while,” said Finarelli, a guard who finished with 13 points. “This was our chance to take them down and we did it.
“It feels great.”
Luke DelGaudio disrupted the Abington Heights offense with eight blocked shots, including four in the first quarter, and three steals.
“I’m just glad we were finally able to beat them in our final season,” said the senior football, who is committed to play wide receiver at Bucknell University after helping the Dallas football team to a state final earlier this school year.
Corey Perkins led Abington Heights with 16 points, all but three of which came in the first-half flurry he created to allow the Comets to briefly claim their only lead.
Perkins scored 13 points in a stretch of 5:32 to end the first quarter and start the second quarter.
When he took the ball the length of the floor to score in transition with 4:10 left in the half, the Comets had a 20-19 lead.
It lasted only 16 seconds.
Nick Nocito answered with a 3-pointer and Dallas remained in front the rest of the way.
Phil Johnson scored 11 points for Abington Heights.
Harry Johnson grabbed 12 rebounds, including eight on the offensive end, but with DelGaudio protecting the middle, he was only able to score four points. Harry Johnson also finished with team-highs of four assists and three blocked shots.
Mike Malone grabbed seven rebounds to help Abington Heights to a 31-29 rebounding advantage and also had three steals.
Abington Heights 48, North Pocono 46
Corey Perkins hit a 3-pointer from in front of the bench at the final buzzer Feb. 18 to complete a comeback from an 18-point, third-quarter deficit.
A loss in that round would have eliminated any chance Abington Heights had of reaching state play with a top-three finish in the district.
Perkins made sure that could not happen with four 3-pointers after North Pocono took a 38-20 lead early in the second half. He hit two while Abington Heights while scoring the last 14 points of the third quarter and the first two of the fourth to get within two points.
Jacob Anderson had all five of his points in the third quarter for the Comets.
Perkins, who had 14 of his team-high 16 in the second half, scored eight in the fourth quarter to complete the comeback. He scored the game-winner of an in-bounds play in the closing seconds, navigating a pair of double teams to beat three defenders total and release the winning shot.
Zach Walsh hit four 3-pointers, three of them in the third quarter, to lead North Pocono with 23 points.
