After rallying from as much as a 15-point deficit and coming up on the short end of a two-point loss at Wilkes-Barre on Friday night, Emmaus was faced with the difficult challenge of a quick turnaround on Saturday morning, returning north up the Pennsylvania Turnpike for an early matinee consolation game with a familiar foe in Holy Redeemer.
It was just a year ago, with a much more experienced lineup, that the Hornets had defeated the Royals 49-29 on their way to winning the 2nd Annual event.
This time, however, Emmaus was not able to come up with the same result, and it was another tough early-season loss for first year head coach Jerald Brown’s team as they fell to the Royals 46-45 in overtime.
The loss meant an 0-2 start to the season, marking the first time in five years that the program has dropped their first two games.
And this defeat, was equally as difficult as Emmaus’ 63-61 setback to Wilkes-Barre a little over 17 hours earlier.
After getting off to another slow start and trailing 9-3 after the first quarter, the Hornets were able to once again rally to outscore Holy Redeemer 17-6 in the second to take a five-point lead (20-15) into the break.
Emmaus still led by four entering the fourth, but the Royals were able to have a rally of their own as they outscored the Hornets 14-10 in final period, forcing the extra session in which they were able to pull out the one-point win.
In the loss, senior Jack Csensits had a huge game as he nearly accounted for half of his team’s point production with a career-best 21-point performance. For his efforts, Csensits was named to the all-tournament team.
Holy Redeemer was led in scoring by junior Cody Quaglia who had a team-high 15 points. Teammate David Popson added 12 points for the Royals who improved to 1-1 on the season.
Muhlenberg was the crowned the champions of the tournament after defeating the host school Wilkes-Barre 73-70 in the finals in triple overtime. The Muhls Shermar Killen Jr. was named the tourney’s MVP. Teammate Jayden Kantner, Wilkes-Barre’s Mike Keating and David Jannuzzi along with Holy Redeemer’s Brayden Sock were named to the all-tournament team.
Emmaus will return to action on Monday at 7 p.m. as they host rival Central Catholic in their Eastern Pennsylvania Conference opener. The game will be carried LIVE on The Eastern Pa. Sports Network beginning at 6:45 p.m.
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Holy Redeemer 46, Emmaus 45 (OT)
Em – Jack Csensits 6 7-10 21, Owen Hafner 0, Mike Rooney 1 2-2 5, Chase Whitesell 1 0-0 3, Jake Ross 3 0-0 6, Tyler Nunez 0, Matt Deschenes 0, Gabe Kabba 1 1-2 3, Matt Rooney 0 4-4 4, Lucas Stephen 0 3-4 3. Totals: FG 12, FT 14-22, 3s (4 – Csensits 2, Mike Rooney 1, Whitesell 1)
HR – Cody Quaglia 4 4-4 15, Evan Licari 1 0-0 2, Logan Shrader 1 0-0 2, Brayden Sock 2 0-0 5, David Popson 4 2-3 12, Logan Sekol 0, Kyaire McLean 3 0-0 8, Jack Hurst 0, Quron Drayton 1 0-0 2, Matt Stilp 0. Totals: FG 16, FT 6-7, 3s (6 – Quaglia 3, McLean 2, Sock 1)
Em – 3-17-7-10-8 – 45
HR – 9-6-8-14-9 – 46