Editor’s note: The Whitehall boys basketball game took place Wednesday night, after Press deadlines.

A familiar face will greet the Whitehall boys basketball team as they begin the task of trying to claim a district championship as competition gets underway this week.

The 6A field is now set and the Zephyrs will open against Pocono Mountain West, a team they saw a little over a month ago. Those two will square off in an 8-9 game at Whitehall on Feb. 19, which comes after Press deadlines, with the winner drawing top-seeded William Allen in the next round - scheduled for Saturday in Easton. Whitehall enters as the eighth seed, finishing the year 12-10, while PMW is ninth with a 10-12 record.

In that Jan. 12 contest against the Panthers, the Zephyrs got out to a fast start, taking a 10-point lead into halftime. They maintained that cushion and eventually added to it, defeating PMW for the 57-40 victory.

It was their first game without senior Joe Lisicky who was lost the previous contest against Stroudsburg. Since that time, the Zephyrs have relied heavily on seniors Tyler Holubowski and Dylan McGinley to lead the way, and both players have responded with outstanding efforts that paved the way to their postseason appearance.

Holubowski, who’s averaging a tick over 16 points per game this season, was an Eastern Pennsylvania Conference all-star second team selection. Head coach Jeff Jones said that Holubowski finished fourth in league scoring for the EPC. He’s a versatile player who’s often at his best attacking the basket, and that’s something Jones wants to see as they begin their second season.

McGinley’s numbers were just about equal, finishing slighting behind Holubowski in scoring this season. McGinley is threat both inside and out, and is their main force under the basket on defense. Those two will form the crux of their offense and it will be the same once they begin their march toward a league title.

As they prepare for the Panthers, Jones said that they have a good inside-outside presence on the court. They can fill it up from outside with three players who’ve sank more treys than any Zephyrs this season. They can also feed the ball down low to 6-8 sophomore Christian Fermin who earned an EPC all-star third team nod this season.

Jones said that when he first encountered Fermin he was struggling a bit to find his way offensively, but since that time he’s become more comfortable and has settled into a productive offensive player. His size will pose problems and they’ll have to work hard to keep him in check.

“He’s a huge concern for us,” said Jones.

They’ll also need to put pressure on the perimeter players. In their first meeting, which was part of the Lehigh Valley Parkinson’s Jamfest at Parkland, Jones said that they began the game playing man-to-man defense. But once McGinley got in foul trouble they switched to their matchup zone and that allowed them to put the reins on West.

“The zone was really good for us,” said Jones. “It really kept them off balance.”

He expects they’ll do much the same when they meet this Wednesday.

Jones said that an opening game against PMW was how he envisioned things shaking out as the season drew to a close. It’s the first district appearance for this current group, and he hopes they relish the moment.

“I would think that the guys would be happy having one more home game,” said Jones.

Perhaps the happiest are seniors Holubowski and McGinley, who along with Joe Lisicky -who’s sidelined with an injury - have waited three years for this opportunity. Jones said that he expects those two to continue to lead the team as they tip off against the Panthers. He also said that their underclassmen have to “do the little things” that often go unnoticed to help them advance as far as possible.

That group has played solid defense all season with Tommy Buskirk often drawing the toughest defensive assignments. He can also spot up for the three or take it to the hole. They’ll also get support from Ian Werner, Bryce Bashore, Luke Gilbert, Shyhiem Foster, Marcus Hamscher, Marc Augustin, Cassius Watson, Matt Snyder, Zackary Hartman, Matt Lisicky, Raymond Jackson and Lucas Souders.