POTTSVILLE – For three quarters, Brandon Stilitino was a one-man show for Panther Valley.

Then in the fourth quarter, Stilitino got a little help from his friends.

Did he ever!

The result was a 61-40 Panther victory over Dobbins Tech on Saturday in the opening round of the PIAA Class 3A basketball tournament.

It was the second time in a week that the 2019-20 Panthers broke down a program barrier that stood for decades.

Last weekend, it was a District 11 championship. Saturday, it was a state playoff victory.

“The first time since 1986,” said Panther Valley coach Pat Crampsie after his team’s win over the District 12 Mustangs. “What a great feeling.

“There are just 16 Class 3A teams still playing in the state, and Panther Valley is one of them.”

The magnitude of that accomplishment wasn’t lost on Stilitino.

“This is amazing,” he said after his 26-point performance that included eight three-pointers. “It feels so good to have all our hard work pay off like this.

“But I think I’m even more excited about what this postseason has meant for the Panther Valley community. The support they have given us, and the excitement we have been able to provide for them, has been incredible to experience.”

Despite the lopsided final score, the Panthers’ first state playoff win in over three decades was far from certain early in the fourth quarter. With just 7:30 remaining, PV was clinging to a one-point lead.

Up until that point, Panther Valley had scored just 33 points and Stilitino had accounted for 23 of them.

In the fourth quarter, however, things changed.

With Aaron Gutierrez and Erick Marchorro constantly blowing by defenders, Dobbins (11-14) had no answers. Forced to get out of their 3-2 zone, the Mustangs tried fullcourt pressure, a 1-3-1 halfcourt trap, and man-to-man, but they couldn’t slow the Panther Express.

Gutierrez had 13 points in the final period, and Marchorro added six as the Panthers went on a 24-5 run to blow the game open.

“It was getting late and I knew I had to step up and help out the team,” said Gutierrez, who had scored just two points going into the fourth quarter. “The coaches were telling me I needed to start taking the ball to the basket and rebounding.

“I didn’t do a very good job of that in the first three quarters, but I finally started to play like I knew I could in the fourth quarter.”

As for Stilitino, he was confident the help was coming.

“My teammates are great,” he said. “They did a great job of finding me and getting me the ball. They know I can be a streaky shooter, so after I made a couple early threes, they kept feeding me the ball.

“Then in the fourth quarter with the game on the line, everyone just stepped up their game.”

That they did.

And the result?

Stilitino and the Panthers got by with a little help from those friends.

UP NEXT … The Panthers (14-11) will now face District 12 runner-up High School of the Future on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. at the Geigle Complex in Reading.

RECORD BREAKER … Stilitino’s eight 3-pointers gave him 70 for the season, and in the process broke the Panther Valley career record. Stilitino now has 164 career threes, breaking the record of 163 held by Brad Yuricheck.

NUMBERS … The Panthers made 11 of their 13 shots from the floor in the fourth quarter (85 percent) after shooting just 12-for-39 (31 percent) over the first three quarters. Meanwhile, Dobbins took an incredible 71 shots (thanks to 30 offensive rebounds) but converted just 16 of the 71 (23 percent).

DOBBINS TECH

Bailey 3-3-5-9, Brown 4-0-0-10, Y. Diaz 1-0-0-2, Pough 0-0-0-0, Donaldson 4-0-1-9, Lewis 4-1-2-9, K. Diaz 0-1-4-1, Davis 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 16-5-12-40.

PANTHER VALLEY

Marchorro 4-1-3-9, Gutierrez 7-0-0-15, Stilitino 9-0-0-26, Krapf 1-0-0-3, Eidle 1-0-2-2, Hoben 0-0-0-0, White 1-2-3-4, Edwards 0-0-0-0, Roig 0-2-4-2, Juracka 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 23-5-12-61.

Dobbins Tech 8 11 10 11 - 40

Panther Vy. 14 6 13 28 - 61

Three-pointers: DT - Brown 2, Donaldson 1. PV - Stilitino 8, Krapf 1, Gutierrez 1.