Emmaus didn’t come away with a victory on Friday night on Senior Night, but the Hornets certainly had a lot to be proud of in their effort against the league’s top and hottest team, rival Parkland.
The Hornets played from behind most of the night and trailed by as much as 18 points in the second half but were able to battle back before eventually falling in respectable 60-48 loss to the Trojans before a near-capacity home crowd at ‘The Hive.’
“I can’t be prouder of the effort,” said Emmaus first year head coach Eric Luckenbill. “There’s been times this season where the effort has waned a little bit, but it’s not been in the last couple of weeks.
“We’re playing hard. There are certain times we need to play smarter, or we need to change it up and we need to coach better, but I was really, really excited for what we did tonight, and it’s got to carry over tomorrow and we need to get a win.”
Emmaus, which had won three of its last four games, dropped to 9-11 overall on the season with the loss, needs wins in its final two games against Pottstown (today) and at Whitehall (Monday) to qualify for the District XI 6A Tournament.
Meanwhile, Parkland has long since clinched a berth in districts and will likely be the top overall seed when the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference Tournament gets underway next Friday.
The Trojans looked every bit like the team to beat in the opening quarter as they raced out to a 21-10 lead behind the hot shooting of junior Blake Nassry who had three 3-pointers and 10 points in the opening eight minutes.
“He was awesome tonight,” said Luckenbill of Nassry of led all scorers with 28 points. “I think he’s every bit of one of the best players in the conference and he’s one of those kids that averages 15 points per game, but he has the ability to score and take over games. That’s what he did in the second quarter. I don’t’ think anything we could have done was going to slow him down. We did a better job in the second half.
Nassry scored 23 of his team’s 37 points in the first half as Parkland led by 11 (37-26) at the break. In the second half, however, he was held to just five points.
Senior Tyler Beck also had a big game for the Trojans (14-1 EPC/15-5 overall) draining five 3-pointers and finishing with 15 points. As a team, Parkland had 10 3s on the night.
For Emmaus, junior Matt Rooney led the way scoring nine of his team-high 11 points in the first half. Classmate Jake Ross added nine and sophomore Noeah Newsome eight.
Emmaus actually had more field goals in the game (19-16), but the disparity was at the free throw line where Parkland was 17 of 25 compared to just 5 of 7 for the Hornets.
Prior to the game, Emmaus honored its five seniors — Jayden Swan, Mitch Pisarcik, Othello Karto, Robert Edwards and Cole Stuchko. All five were in the starting lineup.
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Park – 21-16-14-9 – 60
Em – 10-16-13-9 – 48
Park – Ryan Kearney 0 2-2 2, Nass Adams 0 3-4 3, Blake Nassry 9 6-11 28, Tyler Beck 1 4-6 7, Jude Ruisch 5 0-0 15, TJ Lawrence 1 0-0 2, Marcus Temchatin 0 2-2 2, Alex Barrera 0. Totals: FG 16, FT 17-25, 3s (10 – Ruisch 5, Nassry 4, Beck)
Em – Jayden Swan 2 0-0 4, Mitch Pisarcik 1 0-0 2, Othello Karto 1 0-0 3, Robert Edwards 1 1-1 3, Cole Stuchko 0, Jake Ross 4 0-0 9, Matt Rooney 4 3-4 11, Noeah Newsome 3 0-0 8, Ben Grochowski 2 0-0 5, Kellen Hafner 1 1-2 3, Tyler Leman 0. Totals: FG 19, FT 5-7, 3s (5 – Newsome 2, Karto, Ross, Grochowski)
JV – Parkland 44-25
Fresh – Parkland 50-42