Dallas’ Jack Dale (3) blocks a shot by Wyoming Area’s Anthony DeLucca during Thursday’s WVC Tournament semifinal game. Dale scored a career-high 20 points in the win.
Tony Callaio | For Times Leader
Some were expecting Round 4 of Dallas vs. Wilkes-Barre Area.
Holy Redeemer sent that idea to the canvas.
Instead, it will be surging Redeemer (14-9) playing Dallas (16-8) for the Wyoming Valley Conference Tournament boys basketball championship at 2 p.m. Sunday at Wilkes-Barre Area High School.
Admission is $6 for adults and $4 for students.
A WBA victory in Thursday’s semifinals would have set up a fourth game this season with Dallas, a team the Wolfpack defeated 73-62 Monday for the WVC Division 1 championship. It would have also meant a rematch of last season’s WVC title contest.
Redeemer made sure it wouldn’t happen with a 58-49 victory over WBA in the semifinals. The Royals won with defense as they held WBA to its second-lowest points total of the season. They also snapped the Wolfpack’s six-game winning streak and handed them only their third loss in 13 games.
Not bad for a team which looked cooked after consecutive mid-January losses to Wyoming Area, Berwick and Tunkhannock dropped the Royals to 7-9.
Redeemer’s last three games have been impressive. It knocked off eventual Division 2 champion Wyoming Area, defeated Berwick to make the tournament and then upset WBA.
“The more we’ve played games later in the season, we’ve got more confidence and more belief in ourselves,” Redeemer coach Paul Guido said after the WBA victory.
The offense is also trending upward after relying heavily on defense. Big man David Popson had 18 against WBA. He averaged 12.1 points during the regular season, the only Royal to average in double figures. Evan Licari and Cody Quaglia had 10 each.
Dallas had lost four of six before routing Wyoming Area 69-42. Senior Jake Dale, a first-year starter, scored a career-high 20 points. Senior guard Jude Nocito had 19 and sixth man Kael Berry added 11.
Dallas coach Mark Belenski was Redeemer’s first coach, running the program from 2007-2013 before stepping down. Guido, his assistant and good friend, took over. Belenski returned to coaching at Dallas in 2015.
