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District 2 Boys WVC Semi-Final Recap (Dallas vs. Nanticoke Area)
 

District 2 Boys WVC Semi-Final Recap (Dallas vs. Nanticoke Area)

Written by: Jon K on February 17, 2023

 

 

February 16, 2023

 

Dallas Mounts Second Half Comeback to Advance to WVC Final

 

 

Dallas 61, Greater Nanticoke Area 51

 

by Phil T.

WILKES-BARRE – After trailing for most of the first half, Dallas rethought its defense and was able to slow Nanticoke Area’s streaky attack on their way to a 61-51 Wyoming Valley Conference Boys’ Semifinal victory.

Dallas, the WVC Division 1 regular season champ and reigning WVC Champion, will face Holy Redeemer, the Division 2 champion, on Saturday evening for the Conference title.

The road was far from easy for Dallas as the Mountaineers fell behind and trailed a highly competitive GNA team for most of the first half.  The Trojans benefited from scoring spurts of five, seven and six points to give them a four-point halftime advantage.

As Dallas got off to a somewhat slower start, GNA was quick to act as buckets from Jaidyn Johnson and Ibn Jordan-Thomas spotted them a five-point lead and foreshadowed the Trojan’s plan of attack for most of the game.

Dallas was held scoreless for over two minutes to start the contest, but a putback bucket and successful “‘and 1” foul shot from Michael Bufalino showed that the Mounts indeed came to play.  Jude Nocito would follow with a bucket of his own to knot the game up halfway through the opening stanza.

Nanticoke would fire back with three consecutive buckets from three different shooters – Liam Mullery with a triple, Johnson with a driving layup and Gavin Turak finishing in the paint.  The 7-0 run forced Dallas into a timeout to regain their focus and formulate a strategy to slow down the Trojan attack.

The newly devised plan worked phenomenally well as Dallas would force five Trojan turnovers and go on a 10-0 run late in the frame to give them a 15-12 lead.  Dallas was poised to take the final shot of the quarter, but a shifty steal from Caleb Butczynski would lead to Jaylin Collins layup just before the buzzer as Dallas took a 15-14 lead into the second stanza.

A lasting edge would be non-existent to start the second frame as a bucket from Johnson tied the game and a subsequent bucket from Jordan-Thomas would put the Trojans up, 19-17, only to see Nocito convert his mid-range jumper to tie the game up again.

Nanticoke would eventually gain momentum with a triple from Mullery, a bucket from Jordan-Thomas and successful foul shots from Turak to give GNA a six-point advantage with halftime nearing.

The Trojan run would end with a Bufalino steal and Nocito finish.  Darius Wallace would follow his teammates up with a triple that cut the deficit to a single-digit.

A Bufalino blocked shot appeared to send both teams to the lockers separated by a single point, but with fractions of second left Butczynski would find a wide-open Mullery at the top of the arc leading to a beautiful catch-and-shoot buzzer beater that gave GNA a 28-24 lead at the intermission.

After failing to convert any of his five field-goals in the first half, Michael Cumbo came out of the second half gates on fire.  Cumbo would pick up a foul on his first possession, converting both chances at the charity stripe, and followed that up with a triple to put the Mountaineers back out in front.

Johnson, Jordan-Thomas and Turak would send the Trojans on another offensive spurt, scoring the game’s next seven points, to retake the lead.

A Wallace field-goal would get Dallas back on the board, but Jordan-Thomas answered back with three more points to extend the Nanticoke Area lead to 38-31.

The Mountaineers would finally make their comeback netting nine of the game’s last eleven points in the third stanza that sent the game into the last period tied at 40.

Both teams would trade buckets to begin the fourth, but the Trojan’s offense would fall flat as they failed to score from the field for over five minutes.

A layup from Cumbo, a triple from Bufalino and a score from Nocito would give Dallas a 50-44 lead that they would never relinquish.  GNA would attempt to keep the game close at the charity stripe, but seven consecutive points from Wallace sealed the 61-51 win for the Mountaineers and set up a WVC championship date with Holy Redeemer.

Nanticoke’s two-head attack of Johnson and Jordan-Thomas worked well for most of the game, but began to sputter late in the game.  The two combined to take 16 of the Trojan’s 18 field-goals in the second half, converting seven of them with no other GNA player making a field-goal after the break.

Darius Wallace led all scorers with 19 points in the Mounts’ semifinal victory.  Michael Bufalino recorded a double-double in the contest, finishing with 17 points and 11 boards.  Jude Nocito was setting his teammates up all night, recording five assists to go with ten points.  Aside from the 11 points Michael Cumbo scored on the offensive end, he created havoc for the Trojans by forcing four steals in the contest.

The Trojans were led by Jaidyn Johnson and Ibn Thomas-Jordan with 17 points apiece.  Johnson’s impact was felt throughout the court as he brought down five rebounds, assisted on two other buckets and blocked three Mountaineer shot attempts. Jordan-Thomas was a force to reckon with as he brought down eight boards while shooting 73% (8-11) from the field.

The season is far from over for Nanticoke Area  as the Trojans now head into the District 2 AAAA playoffs as the third seed.  Nanticoke will face Wyoming Area in the opening round; the Trojans defeated the Warriors in both regular season division matchups earlier this season.

Before Dallas takes their second seed into the 5A district playoffs, they’ll head to their home court to defend their WVC title against Holy Redeemer on Saturday.

 

 

 

 

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