Dallas and Jude Nocito, left, are looking for their second straight WVC tournament championship.
Fred Adams | For Times Leader
Darryl Wright, right, and Holy Redeemer enter Saturday’s WVC title game riding a 16-game winning streak.
Fred Adams | For Times Leader
Dallas and Holy Redeemer both had some problems playing their style of basketball in Thursday’s Wyoming Valley Conference boys semifinal games.
That’s shouldn’t be an issue in the championship game at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Dallas High School. Both teams like to play uptempo and get out in transition. And both have the athletic ability to do so.
The game is the nightcap of a doubleheader with the girls title game between Redeemer and Lake-Lehman at 6 p.m. Tickets are $5.
The game won’t change the District 2 playoff seedings as they are based on a power ranking system using regular-season games only. Dallas (20-3) will be the second seed in the D2-5A playoffs. Redeemer (21-2) will be the top seed in the D2-3A tournament.
Division 1 champion Dallas and Division 2 champion Redeemer both needed some time in the semifinals to find their offensive footing.
Dallas finally played what coach Mark Belenski called “Dallas basketball” a few minutes into the fourth quarter in its 61-51 win over Division 2 runner-up Nanticoke Area. Darius Wallace and Michael Bufalino led the fourth-quarter assault that saw the Mountaineers outscore Nanticoke Area 21-11.
Wallace finished with 19 points followed by Bufalino with 15, Mike Cumbo with 13 and Jude Nocito with 10. It’s commonplace for Dallas to have several players in double figures. The Mountaineers averaged 64.4 points during the regular season, the only WVC team to top 60 per game.
Redeemer was right behind Dallas, averaging 59.9 points per game. The Royals have scored under 50 points three times, including their last two games. That’s not necessarily a red flag because they were able to flip the tempo in the second half. In the Feb. 9 regular-season finale, they outscored Nanticoke Area 31-11 in the second half for a 48-33 win. They outscored Division 1 runner-up Pittston Area 15-7 in the fourth quarter of a semifinal game for a 48-35 victory.
“Coming into the game we talked that (Pittston Area) likes to play that style and will try to do that to us and keep the game at their tempo,” Redeemer coach Paul Guido said. “We wanted to kind of extend our defense and try to speed them up.”
When Redeemer gets running, it’s usually Jacob Hunter, Zach Perta and Darryl Wright leading the attack.
It’s not surprising Dallas and Redeemer like to play similar styles. Guido was Belenski’s assistant for 13 years, including at now-closed Bishop O’Reilly that produced state titles in 2004 and 2005.
“Where do you think he learned basketball?” Belenski joked about Guido. “Don’t let him fool you.”
Belenski was also Redeemer’s first coach in 2007 after the Catholic school merger. He stepped down after the 2012-13 season and Guido took over. Belenski returned to coaching at Dallas in 2015.
