Three Dallas teams head to Hazleton Area Thursday for what could be the day’s most important sporting events in District 2.
After the boys and girls swimming team go head-to-head in the afternoon, the Dallas at Hazleton Area game highlights the boys basketball schedule.
By the time they are done, there will be just one unbeaten team left in Wyoming Valley Conference Division 1 boys basketball.
Dallas leads the division with a 4-0 record and has won five straight for a 6-1 mark overall.
Austin Finarelli is averaging more than 23 points per game for Dallas, which suffered its only loss when its other four-year guard, Nick Nocito, was out of the lineup at Abington Heights.
The Mountaineers are ranked second in the My City Mortgage Super Six Power Rankings of District 2 teams, back where they began the season, while the host Cougars have climbed to third.
Hazleton Area is 2-0 in the division, 6-2 overall, unbeaten within District 2 and on a three-game winning streak.
Although they aren’t pushing 40 points per game like Finarelli and Nocito are, the Cougars have developed their own productive backcourt combination.
Jose Guerra, a 6-foot-1 senior, averages 16.4 points, 6.5 rebounds and 4.5 steals, all team-highs. Luke Gennaro, a 6-2 sophomore, adds 13.0 points and a team-high 2.8 assists.
The basketball schedule also includes a similar showdown in Lackawanna League Division 3.
Preseason favorite Mid Valley (2-0, 9-2) takes a six-game winning streak to play at defending champion Riverside (2-1, 8-2).
The result will either move Mid Valley into a tie for first-place with Dunmore or leave Dunmore as the division’s only unbeaten.
The current leader and defending champion are on the road in Lackawanna Division 4. Blue Ridge (3-0, 7-3) is at Mountain View (0-0, 1-3) while Elk Lake (2-1, 6-4) is at Susquehanna (1-0, 3-6) in games involving the likely top four teams in the division.
Lackawanna Division 2 leader Wallenpaupack (3-0, 8-2) is at Delaware Valley (1-2, 3-6).
The swimming schedule is down to the two Dallas teams, both 3-0 in the WVC, heading to Hazleton Area where both teams are 2-0.
Hazleton Area is ranked first and Dallas third among boys teams in the Riverfront Sports Super Six Swimming Power Rankings of District 2 teams. Dallas is also ranked second among girls teams.
The wrestling schedule has Hazleton Area at Wilkes-Barre Area in WVC Division 1, Hanover Area at Nanticoke in WVC Division 2 and Central Columbia at Berwick in a non-league match.
The full basketball schedule can be found at: https://nepabasketball.com/composite?d=2022-01-13.
