Wyoming Area’s Anthony DeLucca and Holy Redeemer’s Quron Drayton go to the floor after a loose ball in Tuesday’s game as Cody Quaglia from Holy Redeemer joins the scramble. Wyoming Area’s Lukas Burakiewicz and Holy Redeemer’s Brayden Sock also close in from left.
Tom Robinson | For Sunday Dispatch
The Wyoming Area Warriors were never content with coming close to their first Wyoming Valley Conference Division 2 boys basketball title in more than a half-century by forcing a championship playoff with Holy Redeemer a year ago.
“I’m extremely proud of our guys,” Warriors coach Anthony Macario said in a Friday interview, a day after the team secured its first division title in 54 years. “Last year, I think a lot of people had us pinned to have a shot at a division title. I don’t think as many people did this year with the exception of our own team.
“Our guys took that to heart. They took that personally. We said, ‘after last year, going into this year that we really set high expectations for ourselves and we didn’t want that to change.’ We knew some people expected us to have a little bit of a down year with what we lost. Our guys really set out to prove themselves.”
They did just that.
The Warriors took command of the division race and clinched no worse than another playoff shot with a week remaining in the regular season. Then, after Holy Redeemer forced a delay in the celebration with a Tuesday victory, Wyoming Area went to Wyoming Seminary Thursday night and claimed its championship with a 62-40 win.
“They worked their butts off and were able to accomplish something that has not been done in a long, long time,” Macario said. “I’m really proud of them for having the mental fortitude to do that.”
Luke Kopetchny and Lukas Burakiewicz became District 2’s top one-two scoring punch at 22 and 16 points per game and a championship supporting cast developed around them. Anthony DeLucca, Drew Keating and Shane Pepe round out the starting lineup with Mitchell Rusinchak and Bruno Pizzano leading the group of the bench that also includes Jacob Morgan, John Turner and others.
“It’s a full and total team effort,” Macario said. “Anthony has been with us every day for four years and he’s an absolute leader. He is one of those kids who doesn’t care, he just wants to win and he will do whatever it takes as long as the team wins. That just speaks volumes for the type of person he is and our whole team is like that.
“Understandably and deservedly so, Luke and Lukas get a lot of the credit because they do the bulk of the scoring. But, then you also look at kids like Drew Keating, who is going up against the other team’s big man every night, and guys like Anthony, who is just willing to take on the task of guarding the other team’s top player, and kids like Shane Pepe, who just understands his role and plays it very well.”
Macario extended his praise through each of the key reserves.
“We truly have a group of guys who all they care about is winning and that’s awesome,” he said. “It’s one of those things you can’t really coach and you’re just happy as a coach that a lot of our guys have those intangibles. I’m happy to be around guys like that.”
Wyoming Area 62, Wyoming Seminary 40
Sophomore Luke Kopetchny poured in 31 points and grabbed 11 rebounds Thursday night when Wyoming Area took control from the start on the way to the road victory that wrapped up just the second division title in program history and the first since 1971.
“Luke was fantastic,” coach Anthony Macario said. “ … He is a special player. He’s so versatile. He can do it on both ends of the floor.
“He’s going to be a force for the next two years.”
The Warriors will play the Division 1 second-place team Thursday night at Hazleton Area in a WVC Tournament semifinal.
Lukas Burakiewicz scored 10 of his 13 points in the first quarter when the Warriors established a 17-6 lead.
Kopetchny went 11-for-12 from the line in the game. He had 11 points in the second quarter as the lead swelled to 33-13 at halftime.
Anthony DeLucca chipped in nine points and a key defensive effort. He held 15-point-per-game scorer Antek Evan to two points.
“And those two points were actually on a turnover we had,” Macario said. “So, realistically in the half-court, Anthony held him scoreless, which is incredible.”
Drew Keating added eight points and 13 rebounds.
Jayden Arterberry scored 14 points and Jack Leahy 11 for Wyoming Seminary.
Holy Redeemer 68, Wyoming Area 59
EXETER – Holy Redeemer denied Wyoming Area’s first attempt at taking the title outright.
David Popson scored 20 points, grabbed 11 rebounds and blocked two shots Tuesday night while Quron Drayton led the bench production as the Royals beat the host Warriors.
Drayton made all three of his shots from the floor while contributing 10 points, making three steals and swatting away a last-minute 3-point attempt.
Overall, the Holy Redeemer bench outperformed its Wyoming Area counterparts 16-2 in points, 6-2 in rebounds, 4-0 in assists, 3-0 in steals and 1-0 in blocks.
Popson grabbed nine of his rebounds on the offensive end.
Wyoming Area used a 17-2 run in a span of 3½ minutes to take a 22-14 lead after one quarter.
Lukas Burakiewicz had two 3-pointers and eight points in the run; Anthony DeLucca made a four-point play from the corner and added another basket; and Luke Kopetchny converted a three-point play.
With starting guards spending extended time on the bench with foul trouble in the second and third quarters, Drayton made sure it did not hurt the Royals.
“Q did a nice job,” Royals coach Paul Guido said. “He’s been playing better for us the second half of the season. He has worked his butt off in practice.
“ … He got those minutes and he took advantage of them.”
Drayton and fellow reserves Jack Hurst, Logan Shrader and Logan Sekol were among the seven Royals who scored during a 27-8 second quarter by Holy Redeemer.
Cody Quaglia had six points in the quarter and eight more in the fourth to finish with 16.
Burakiewicz and Anthony DeLucca each hit four 3-pointers while scoring 24 and 19 for Wyoming Area. DeLucca also had five assists.
Kopetchny added 14 points, nine rebounds and four assists.
