Time after time, it looked as if all of the luck was stacked against Salisbury.

First it was an 85-foot heave as time expired in the first quarter from Octorara’s Dominik London that somehow found its way through the rim. Then, Jamanti Mayo’s tip in as time expired in regulation tied last Friday’s district game at 56-56 and sent the two teams into overtime.

Salisbury, however, was not rattled. Jaxon Costello scored eight of his career-high 35 points in the extra frame to help the Falcons (19-6) pull away from District 1’s Octorara (7-15) in the District 1/11 Class 4A subregional at Allen High School.

“From watching them on film, I thought they were a really solid team,” head coach Jason Weaver said. “Their three guards were really good players. They are quick. They can shoot. We knew they were going to be a matchup problem for us. We decided to go zone tonight. I think for the most part it was effective.”

A loss would have ended Salisbury’s season and the careers of three Falcon senior starters. Instead, the Falcons are headed back to the state tournament for the second straight year and have guaranteed at least three more games.

After a semifinal match up against Jim Thorpe on Tuesday, the Falcons move on to either a district title game or a third-place game on Friday and then to states. Results from Tuesday’s district semifinal game against Jim Thorpe were not available at time of press.

“In my opinion, that was the biggest game I’ve played in my career,” Costello said. “My heart has never beat that fast in a game. There were so many points I thought we were going to lose it, but we held on.

“Knowing if we would have lost that would have been my last time ever playing, it kind of made me turn it up a little bit. I told myself before the game this wasn’t going to be my last high school game.”

In a back-and-forth game from the opening tip, it was Salisbury that had the final say. The turning point came early in the fourth quarter when the Falcons turned a three-point deficit into a 50-46 advantage. Ryan Slutsky found an open Costello to give Salisbury its first lead of the fourth quarter. Blake Jones then nailed a three-pointer to give the Falcons that four-point lead.

That 7-0 spurt early in the fourth set up memorable overtime session.

“We started to play our basketball; we started to pound the ball inside,” Costello said. “Ryan (Slutsky) and I obviously have a lot of size. That was the key in our minds.”

“He didn’t even score in the first quarter,” Weaver said. “So to score 35 points in three quarters and overtime is pretty amazing. Jaxon, physically, he is such a strong and big kid. He finishes well. He’s got great touch. He has good footwork. And I think to top it off he is great at the foul line.”

After Octorara started out fast, holding a quick 8-2 lead in the first quarter, Salisbury turned up the heat in the second. The Falcons steadily chipped away at Octorara’s 16-10 first-quarter lead set up by London’s heave.

And it started with Costello, who was held to just one shot and no points in the first eight minutes. He scored 13 of Salisbury’s 21 in the third frame to put the Falcons ahead 31-27 at halftime. Back-to-back Costello, who also had 13 rebounds, field goals gave Salisbury its first lead midway through the second quarter at 23-19.

The Braves’ guards, however, kept Octorara in the game all night. Gary Grove scored 10 of his team-high 24 points in the third quarter alone, and London (23 points) tallied seven to help the Braves overcome a double-digit deficit in the second half. The trio of Grove, London and Mayo scored all but five of Octorara’s 67 points.

“Saucon’s guards have a little bit more size, but the way these guys can shoot and their quickness, it was tough,” said Weaver. ““When we needed to go man-to-man, we actually got a couple of stops. I thought Jack [Reichenbach] got a couple of big tips on London and got some turnovers. We did enough to get a win.”