Dallas rose to the top of the Wyoming Valley Conference Division 1 boys standings this season and Austin Finarelli completed his rise to the top of the division’s players.
Finarelli was named WVC Division 1 Player of the Year by NEPABasketball.com for his role in the championship season with contributions that went well beyond being the team’s leading scorer. That selection was made in conjunction with the Division 1 all-star team released by the website Sunday afternoon.
Finarelli continued his own climb through the ranks of the WVC’s players after being a second-team, all-star selection last season in Division 2 and an honorable mention on the Division 1 team as a sophomore.
While Finarelli was named Player of the Year, Mark Belenski was selected as Coach of the Year. Belenski was recognized after guiding the team through a 21-game winning streak to the state semifinals, blending two four-year guards with increasing input from the rest of the lineup. A dozen of the games in the streak were part of overcoming two early WVC losses to win the Division 1 title in a playoff with Hazleton Area and the conference’s overall championship in a tournament among the top two teams in each division.
Nick Nocito completed a climb of a different type. Although, he is an NEPABasketball.com WVC all-star selection for the fourth straight season, it is his first as a Division 1 first-teamer. Nocito was a second-teamer in Division 1 as a freshman and sophomore and made the first team for the first time last season when Dallas spent a year in Division 2.
The Division 1 first team includes other repeaters.
Pittston Area’s J.J. Walsh makes the squad for the second straight time after being a second-teamer as a sophomore.
Tunkhannock’s Ben Chilson moves up after being a second-teamer last season as a sophomore.
The Dallas influence on the all-star team extended to a second-team choice and the Mountaineers being the only team with two players on the honorable mention list.
The full all-star team list:
WYOMING VALLEY CONFERENCE DIVISION 1
Coach of the Year
Mark Belenski, Dallas
Player of the Year
Austin Finarelli, Dallas senior
First Team
Ben Chilson, Tunkhannock junior
Josian Guerra, Hazleton Area senior
Johnathan Mann, Wyoming Valley West senior
Nick Nocito, Dallas senior
J.J. Walsh, Pittston Area senior
Second Team
Michael Cumbo, Dallas sophomore
Zayne Dunsmuir, Crestwood senior
Luke Gennaro, Hazleton Area sophomore
Nyquan Hollman-Santos, Wilkes-Barre Area senior
Dominic Jannuzzi, Pittston Area junior
Honorable Mention
Michael Bufalino, Dallas junior
Anthony Cencetti, Pittston Area junior
Dylan Mateus, Tunkhannock junior
Khalid Morrieson, Hazleton Area senior
Sean Murphy, Berwick junior
Drew Sechleer, Crestwood junior
Jackson Wydra, Dallas senior
MORE ALL-STARS
Lackawanna League Division 1 boys: https://nepabasketball.com/2021-22/All-Stars/LackDiv1Boys.
Wyoming Valley Conference Division 2 boys: https://nepabasketball.com/2021-22/All-Stars/WVCDivision2Boys.
Lackawanna League Division 4 boys: https://nepabasketball.com/2021-22/All-Stars/LackDiv4Boys.
Lackawanna League Division 1 girls: https://nepabasketball.com/2021-22/All-Stars/LackDiv1Girls.
Wyoming Valley Conference Division 1 girls: https://nepabasketball.com/2021-22/All-Stars/WVCDivision1Girls.
Lackawanna League Division 4 girls: https://nepabasketball.com/2021-22/All-Stars/LackDiv4Girls
