Joe Macciocco scored 28 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and dished out four assists Tuesday night to lead host Old Forge past Wyoming Area, 60-49, in the 20th Badger Game.
The game was scheduled to be one of four played during the week as part of the Anthony “Badger” Marseco Tournament returning for the first time in 10 years.
The girls tournament was completed with its four games, but COVID situations led to the cancellation of two boys games and the postponement of the other.
Old Forge may ultimately play for the title against Pittston Area, which was advanced to the championship game when Wyoming Seminary first had to postpone, then later withdrew from the tournament because of a COVID pause in its program.
Before Pittston Area could meet Old Forge Thursday, the host Blue Devils ran into their own COVID situation Wednesday and had to postpone that game.
The tournament honors the memory of Marseco, a prominent member of Old Forge’s state championship baseball team and one of the school’s best basketball teams ever, who was coaching as an assistant at Wyoming Area while attending Wilkes University at the time of his death from a motorcycle accident.
When there were no longer four teams available for the annual tournament, the Old Forge-Wyoming Area game, which had previously included as a tournament matchup each season, continued as the “Badger Game”. Tuesday’s win allowed Old Forge to improve to 14-6 in those games.
Both teams were 3-3 going into this season’s meeting at Old Forge, which won the District 2 title and advanced all the way to the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association semifinals in Class 2A last season.
Macciocco scored half the team’s points as the Blue Devils took a 14-10 lead after one quarter. He helped offset a pair of 3-pointers by Wyoming Area’s Matt Little.
Casey Holzman had seven of his eight points in the second quarter when Old Forge took control of the game, opening a 35-21 halftime lead. Dino Domiano, who finished with 13 points, had two 3-pointers in the quarter while Macciocco chipped in five points.
Evan Melberger scored 10 of his team-high 16 points in the third quarter to help Wyoming Area close within 45-36.
Macciocco scored eight of Old Forge’s 10 points in the third quarter and added eight more in the fourth to help the Blue Devils close out the win.
Little wound up with 15 points and Dane Schutter nine for Wyoming Area.
Pittston Area made a quick adjustment when Thursday’s championship game was postponed. The Patriots scheduled a home game with Lake-Lehman, which was returning from a 15-day COVID break. That game was completed after holiday deadlines for this week’s edition of the Sunday Dispatch.
