Dwayne Kalinay will make his varsity head coaching debut Friday night when Lake-Lehman opens the season at Coughlin in a non-league matchup between Wyoming Valley Conference boys basketball teams.
Kalinay, who previously coached the freshman team at the school, has some challenges ahead. Lake-Lehman finished last in Division 3 of the WVC at 1-15 last season and was just 2-20 overall.
Sophomore point guard Max Paczewski, 6-foot-4, 240-pound senior forward C.J. Cercone and senior guard/forward Donnie Thompson, the top three scorers last season, are back to lead the way.
The Black Knights were positioned to return their top eight scorers from last season, but three of those players chose not to participate.
“The guys overall are ready,” Kalinay said. “We’ve been talking constantly about being the group that changes how basketball is at Lake-Lehman.
“We have not been successful for some time, but they are ready to be the ones that create that change.”
Senior guard Ibrahim Dabsheh and junior guard/forward Nate Salus, who also gained significant experience last season, should complete the starting lineup.
“We need to learn how to win,” Kalinay said.
While Lake-Lehman tries to climb from the bottom, Dallas will be looking to maintain the progress made by a large senior class that accounted for the entire starting lineup on one of the most successful teams in the program’s history.
Dallas went 13-3 to finish second to Class 6A state semifinalist Hazleton Area in the WVC Division 1 race. The Mountaineers were 21-6, played in the District 2 championship game at the Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza and advanced to the second round of the state Class 5A tournament.
Senior Justin Finarelli and juniors Sam Nocito and Jack Farrell are the team captains.
They will be joined in the starting lineup by junior Luke DelGaudio and either another junior, either Eric Berley or Jack Farrell.
The roster is heavy on sophomores and includes three freshmen who could be factors.
Dallas opens with a Saturday afternoon game at Latin High School in Philadelphia, then plays at 7:15 p.m. at Lake-Lehman in the annual Black & Blue Rivalry Trophy Game.
Tunkhannock was 10-7 to tie for second in Division 2 and went 13-10 overall last season.
The Tigers return 6-foot-8 senior Avery Billings and senior guard Tyler Faux, who is approaching the 1,000-point mark for his career.
Promising sophomores Jack Chilson and Ryan Harder will join them in the lineup.
Tunkhannock’s opener was postponed because Lackawanna Trail, the opponent, had its football team in the state final Thursday. The Tigers will instead open Monday night at Elk Lake.
