RECAP >> Playing on the road and without its two top scorers, Emmaus rallied from a nine-point deficit in the first half to earn a 60-55 win over Liberty in the opening round of the District XI Class 6A Basketball Tournament last night.
Appearing in the post-season for the first time since the 2018-19 season, the ninth-seeded Hornets got a balanced scoring attack and big contributions from underclassmen as they knocked off the Hurricane, the No. 8 seed.
“It’s amazing what six straight practices will do for you. virtually everything we worked on in practice happened tonight,” said an ecstatic Emmaus head coach Steve Yoder following the game on The Eastern Pa Sports Network which carried the contest live. “The kids owned their sets. The seniors, sophomores and freshmen all stepped up. You can hear the excitement in my voice. It’s a great win for our boys.”
The victory, the first since a 39-37 win over Whitehall on February 9, snapped a four-game losing streak and improved the Hornets to 4-8 overall.
Up next for Emmaus is a quarterfinal round matchup on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at top-seeded Pocono Mountain West (7-1). The two teams met two years ago in the post-season with the Hornets winning 76-60 at Allen High School. The game will be carried LIVE on The Eastern Pa Sports Network beginning with the pregame show at 7:15 p.m.
Senior Danny Bohman, missing the past two games with an injury, scored a team-high 14 points to lead the offense. Classmate Patrick Tulio had a solid game and finished with 13, while freshman Will Barber added a career-high 12 points and junior Ryan Diehl a career-best eight. Both Barber and Diehl were making their first career varsity starts. Sophomore Daniel Charlot, up from the junior varsity team, also made his first varsity start and added five points.
“We had three guys that started for the first time ever (Barber, Diehl and Charlot) and Dan hasn’t played any varsity minutes so I couldn’t be more proud of him,” said Yoder. “He gave us some big minutes.”
“I knew Will was ready for primetime and I also want to give a big shout out to Diehl. He worked his butt off the last week-and-a-half of practices and he earned this moment. I also want to give the seniors a lot of credit, too.”
Emmaus trailed 17-8 early in the second quarter, but used a key 15-6 run to close out the half and get the game tied at 23 at the break. After Liberty outscored the Hornets 16-13 in the third to take a three-point lead at 39-36, Emmaus used a 24-16 fourth quarter to pull out the victory with Diehl, Tulio and Barber all converting free throws down the stretch.
Liberty, which had its season end at 3-8 a year after going 20-6, was led in scoring by senior Rondell McNeill who scored a game-high 21 points. No other Hurricane player scored in double figures for first-year head coach Nigel Long’s team.
Emmaus was without the services of senior Jameel Sanders and junior Meech Rogers.
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Emmaus 60, Liberty 55
Em – 8-15-13-24 – 60
Li – 10-13-16-16 – 55
Em – Danny Bohman 4 3-4 14, Patrick Tulio 5 2-2 13, Will Barber 5 1-2 12, Ryan Diehl 2 2-2 8, Shep Henseler 3 -1 6, Daniel Charlot 2 1-2 5, Jake Fotta 0 0-0 0, Ryan Santos 0 0-0 0, Jadis Brevitt 1 0-0 2, Jaden Gallagher 0 0-0 0. Totals: FG 22, FT 9-13, 3s-7 (Bohman 3, Diehl 2, Barber, Tulio)
Lib – Rondell McNeill 7 5-6 21, Joe Barnes 4 0-0 8, Nate Rivera 3 0-0 7, Josh Farrell 2 0-0 6, Alijah Cannon 2 2-2 6, Jovonnie Nunez 2 0-0 5, Najzah Smith 1 0-0 2. Totals: FG 21, FT 7-9, 3s-6 (McNeill 2, Farrell 2, Rivera, Nunez)