The Wyoming Valley Conference boys basketball tournament will feature a couple familiar teams — defending champion Holy Redeemer and 2022 champ Dallas.
And a pair of newcomers to the four-team playoffs — Wilkes-Barre Area and Wyoming Area.
The tournament begins Thursday at Wilkes-Barre Area with two semifinal games. At 6 p.m., Division 2 champion Holy Redeemer (12-1 Div. 2, 16-7 overall) plays Division 1 runner-up Dallas (11-3 Div. 1, 16-6). Division 1 champion WBA (13-1 Div. 1, 18-4) takes on Division 2 runner-up Wyoming Area (11-2 Div. 2, 16-7) at 7:30 p.m.
The championship game is 4 p.m. Saturday at Hazleton Area High School. Admission for all games is $6 for adults and $4 for students. The only pass that will be accepted is the PIAA Gold Pass.
None of these games will affect the District 2 power rankings, which are based solely on regular-season games and set the field for the district playoffs.
Redeemer defeated Dallas 73-65 for the championship in 2023. Dallas defeated Hazleton Area 73-46 for the title in 2022.
Wyoming Seminary won the first two championships, defeating Nanticoke Area 53-43 in 2019 and Crestwood 55-52 in 2020.
The 2020 tournament featured just a championship game in boys since the WVC needed to break a four-way tie for Division 1 after the regular season. The WVC tournament is contingent on having enough time between the end of the regular season and the District 2 playoffs to fit it in. Breaking the four-way tie ate up much of that leeway.
There was no tournament in 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Here’s a look at the two semifinal games.
Holy Redeemer vs. Dallas
6 p.m. Thursday
Holy Redeemer claimed the Division 2 championship with a 58-48 win over Wyoming Area on Monday in a special playoff game.
Dallas gained the Division 2 runner-up spot over Hazleton Area. Both teams finished with the same 11-3 divisional records and split their WVC games. That brought in the District 2 power rankings as the tiebreaker to make the WVC tournament. Dallas edged Hazleton Area by 0.215, which doesn’t sound like much but in the power rankings it’s a decent margin.
George Sabatini (11.8 ppg) and Hanover Area transfer David Popson (12.3) give Redeemer a strong inside duo. Popson was also Division 2’s top free-throw shooter, hitting 75.6% from the stripe.
Guard Mark Atherton (9.2) is next in line in the scoring department. He also has 24 3-pointers. Brayden Sock, another Hanover Area transfer, connected on a team-high 29 3-pointers in the regular season.
Dallas has several players who can hit from behind the arc led by Zach Paczewski, who has 48 threes. Paczewski missed last season with an injury. Mikey Cumbo has 38 3-pointers followed by Jude Nocito with 29 and Cameron Faux with 19.
Cumbo (17.5) leads the team in scoring followed by Nick Williams (10.9), Paczewski (10.5) and Nocito (10.0). Williams in the only real big in the lineup, but Dallas also has Nick Farrell available off the bench to help out in the paint.
Wilkes-Barre Area vs. Wyoming Area
7:30 p.m. Thursday
Both teams are a bit of a surprise being here at least based on last season’s records.
Wilkes-Barre Area was 6-17 in the 2022-23 season. The Wolfpack started this season with three losses. Since then, their only loss was 60-54 to Hazleton Area on Feb. 2.
WBA scored 1,366 points during the regular season. Only Wyoming Area — with 1,367 — scored more.
The Wolfpack’s success revolves around a talented backcourt of Evan Laybourn-Boddie and Dave Jannuzzi.
Laybourn-Boddie, a West Scranton transfer, led the entire WVC with a 22.2 scoring average and 63 3-point baskets. The latter is incredibly impressive considering Laybourn-Boddie missed the first six games of the season. Jannuzzi is averaging 12.4 points and has 25 3-pointers. Yariel Argueta has 28 threes.
WBA, though, doesn’t have a lot of height and relies on perimeter shooting rather than points in the paint.
Wyoming Area finished 10-13, but with a solid returning bunch was pegged as a solid contender.
Senior Dane Schutter, a 1,000-point scorer, leads the team with a 17.6 scoring average. Brady Noone is next with 10.6 points and can attack the rim. Tyler Sciandra (8.1) is just 6-foot, but will battle inside. Anthony DeLucca proves outside offense with 40 3-pointers.
