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COVINGTON TWP. — Two of the Wyoming Valley Conference’s top boys basketball teams from last season took revamped lineups to North Pocono Friday night to open their seasons in the semifinal round of the James Akens Memorial Tip-Off Tournament.
Wyoming Area and Dallas came away with different results.
The Warriors knocked off the host Trojans 62-54 in the nightcap after Dallas finished strong but fell short against Pocono Mountain East 64-55.
Dallas, which won the WVC Tournament title, will play North Pocono Saturday at 6 p.m. for third place. Wyoming Area, which forced a playoff where it lost to Holy Redeemer for the Division 2 championship, will take on Pocono Mountain East for the title at 7:30 p.m.
WARRIORS OPEN WITH WIN
Luke Kopetchny and Lukas Burakiewicz combined for 47 points and teamed on many of the momentum-busting plays that allowed Wyoming Area to hold off North Pocono.
Kopetchny finished with 25 points, six rebounds, three steals and three blocked shots. He had nine points in the fourth quarter with the help of making five of his last six free throws.
“He’s a guy that we need big time this year,” Warriors coach Anthony Macario said. “He’s really going to make his presence known throughout the league.
“He came in and played a heckuva game tonight.”
Burakiewicz made his return from reconstructive knee surgery after his 2023-24 season ended in the fourth game. He hit four 3-pointers and finished with 22 points, five rebounds, four steals and three assists.
“I’m so proud of him and I’m so happy for him because of the adversity he’s gone through the last two years,” Macario said. “He was hurt in his sophomore year as well.”
Anthony DeLucca went 5-for-6 from the line in the fourth quarter to finish with 12 points.
The Trojans were led by Cole West with 15 points and 14 rebounds. His father, Jeff West, was making his head coaching debut after being appointing in a special session of the North Pocono School Board Monday.
North Pocono’s last lead was at 13-12 early in the second quarter.
Wyoming Area then hit three 3-pointers in less than two minutes with DeLucca connecting followed by two from Burakiewicz for a 21-13 lead.
North Pocono got within two points on three occasions in the third quarter.
First, Kopetchny grabbed an offensive rebound and converted two free throws. Then, Burakiewicz and Kopetchny did all the scoring and set each other up during a six-point streak. Finally, Kopetchny hit a free throw and Burakiewicz followed with the last five points of the third quarter for a 44-36 lead.
Kopetchny had six points in the first three minutes of the fourth quarter for a 13-point lead. After a 7-2 North Pocono run cut the lead to six in the final minute, the sophomore made two free throws with 49.2 seconds left.
“The thing about Luke that makes him so difficult to handle for the other team is that he can play inside, he can play outside and he can handle the ball,” Macario said. “You saw him do everything tonight. He makes his free throws, he defends, he can get to the rim and he makes threes.”
DeLucca then duplicated Kopetchny’s effort hitting a pair of free throws two times in the last 34 seconds to expand six-point leads.
MOUNTAINEERS HANG TOUGH
Dallas turned up the defensive pressure to cut an 18-point halftime deficit to as few as six points in the fourth quarter, but could not catch Pocono Mountain East.
“We pride ourselves on our defense,” Mountaineers coach Mark Belenski said after his team forced 31 turnovers with Jude Nocito providing six steals and Jack Dale coming up with five.
Belenski used three freshmen, a sophomore and two juniors in the opener along with the team’s only three seniors.
“We’re young,” he said. “Jude is the only one really with a lot of experience. I expected to be down, but I didn’t expect to be down so much.
“In the second half, we played well.”
Kael Berry went 7-for-7 in the second half before fouling out. He had 16 of his team-high 19 points during that time.
Jude Nocito had 12 of his 16 points and four of his steals after halftime. Dale finished with 13 points and a team-high seven rebounds. Freshman Joey Nocito had seven of his eight assists in the second half.
Dallas had trouble containing guard Rayshawn Harris and dealing with the strength of 6-foot-7 senior center Park Scoz.
Harris had 28 points, 10 rebounds and three steals.
Scoz blocked four shots in the first 5:46 and reached double figures in rebounds in 9:04. He finished with 18 rebounds and seven blocked shots.
The Cardinals pounded the Mountaineers on the boards 55-27.
“We played well and watch out, we’re going to learn from this,” Belenski said. “We’ll be all right. That’s what these games are for, providing we learn and that’s my job and I’m sure these kids will do their job.”
Wyoming Area 62, North Pocono 54
WYOMING AREA (62) – Anthony DeLucca 2 6-8 12, Lukas Burakiewicz 8 2-2 22, Luke Kopetchny 7 10-15 25, Drew Keating 0 0-0 0, Mitchell Rusinchak 0 0-0 0, Shane Pepe 1 0-0 3, Bruno Pizzano 0 0-0 0. Totals 18 18-25 62.
NORTH POCONO (54) – Josh Staples 4 1-2 9, Anthony Maros 6 0-0 12, Cole West 6 3-5 15, Evan Wolff 3 1-1 7, Cael Hafner 1 1-2 3, Dylan O’Neill 1 0-0 2, Sean Turk 0 0-0 0, Anthony Santaniello 3 0-0 6. Totals 24 6-10 54.
Woming Area`12`15`17`18 — 62
North Pocono`11`10`15`18 — 54
Three-point goals – WA 8 (Burakiewicz 4, DeLucca 2, Kopetchny, Pepe). NP 0.
Pocono Mountain East 64, Dallas 55
DALLAS (55) – Jude Nocito 7 1-2 16, Joey Nocito 1 0-0 2, Jack Dale 5 3-6 13, Pat Flanagan 0 0-0 0, Kael Berry 8 0-0 19, Brady Zapoticky 0 0-0 0, Tyce Mason 1 0-0 2, Brady Mizzer 1 0-0 3, Max Scatton 0 0-0 0. Totals 23 4-8 55.
POCONO MOUNTAIN EAST (64) –Dominic McManus 2 5-6 10, Rayland Decairis 0 0-0 0, Stephon Bethea 5 4-8 15, Rayshawn Harris 13 0-1 28, Parker Scoz 3 0-2 6, Amar Dersevic 2 1-4 5, Kenyon Bell 0 0-0 0. Totals 25 10-21 64.
Dallas`9`4`17`25 — 55
Pocono Mountain East`15`16`11`22 — 64
Three-point goals – DAL 5 (Berry 3, Jude Nocito, Mizzer), PME 4 (Harris 2, McManus, Bethea).