SECOND QUARTER SINKS ATHENS IN 69-38 LOSS TO DALLAS
By: Tim Birney / January 29, 2022 / Photo: David Alliger
ATHENS — Athens led by five points after the first quarter, but walked
into the halftime locker room down by 21 in a 69-38 loss to Dallas here
Saturday evening in non-league boys basketball action.
“Believe
it or not, these are the type of non-league games I want,” said Athens
coach Jim Lister. “This game will make us better, and we will be ready
for the final two weeks of our season.”
Senior Nalen Carling
knocked down a 3-pointer and scored five points in the first quarter,
and juniors Mason Lister and Chris Mitchell added four points apiece to
lead Athens to a 17-12 lead after the first eight minutes.
The next eight minutes was all Dallas.
Nick
Nocito canned four 3-pointers for 12 points in the stanza, while Austin
Finarelli pumped in 10 points, and Michael Cumbo canned a pair of
3-pointers to fuel a 32-point outburst that gave Dallas a 44-23 lead at
the halftime intermission.
Nocito scored seven more points in the
third quarter, including his fifth 3-pointer of the game, and Finarelli
added four points in a 19-7 run that extended the lead to 63-30 heading
into the final eight minutes.
Nocito led the Mountaineers with
21 points and five 3-pointers, while Finarelli added 17, and Cumbo
chipped in with 11, including a trio of 3-pointers.
Mitchell led
Athens with 10 points and three rebounds, while Carling scored seven
points, Lister added six points, three rebounds, three assists, and
three steals, and senior J.J. Babcock chipped in with seven rebounds,
three assists, and two blocked shots.
Athens, now 12-5, returns to action Wednesday at Towanda.
About the Author
Tim Birney
Tim Birney is the founder / owner of River Road Media Group. He was born and raised in the Valley, graduating from Waverly High School in 1984.
Birney earned an Associate's Degree in Journalism from SUNY Morrisville in 1986 and a Bachelor's Degree in Journalism / Public Relations from Utica College of Syracuse University in 1988. He began his newspaper career at The Daily Review in Towanda in 1989, before moving on to The Evening Times in 1995. He spent more than 10 years at the Times, the last four as Managing Editor.
River Road Media Group includes five sites in "The Sports Reports" family that cover 24 school districts in five counties: Valley Sports Report (launched Aug. 10, 2009), Tioga County (NY) Sports Report (Aug. 13, 2018), and Northern Tier Sports Report (Aug. 31, 2020); Northern Tier West Sports Report (March 15, 2021) Southern Tier Sports Report (Aug. 16, 2021).
