Playing before a standing-room only crowd in an electric atmosphere that felt more like a playoff game at ‘The Hive’ last night, Emmaus got off to a fast start and then finished strong as they remained the lone unbeaten in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference with a hard-fought and intense 72-60 win over Pocono Mountain West in a game that featured just about everything.
The night started with an incredibly-competitive and physical junior varsity game with the Hornets winning on a 3-pointer at the buzzer from sophomore Rafael Terrero. It then carried over to the varsity with each team trading blows throughout the game, a fan from each side being ejected, five technical falls being called and the two head coaches, Pocono Mountain West Richie Williams and Emmaus’ Steve Yoder getting into a shouting match.
After all that, Emmaus was able to withstand the chaos both on and off the court – and the Panthers valiant comeback – as they pulled away for the 12-point victory to improve to 6-0 in the league and 9-2 overall.
Senior Dylan Darville was the catalyst for the Hornets in the win as he scored a career-high 28 points, 18 coming after halftime. For his efforts, Darville was named the SportClips Player of the Game presented by The Eastern Pa. Sports Network which broadcasted the game LIVE.
Also for Emmaus, junior Will Barber reached double figures for the 11th straight game finishing with 18 points, while senior Chase Muckey added a career-high nine and junior Jametric Harris eight.
Pocono Mountain West, which dropped to 5-2 in the league and 8-2 overall, was led in scoring by senior JuJu Pagan who had a team-high 23 points. Pagan was held to just five field goals in the game with most of his points coming from the free-throw line where he was 12-of-14. Teammates sophomore Adrian Brito and freshman KJ Coles added 14 and 11 points, respectively.
Emmaus will return to action on Tuesday at 7 p.m. as they travel to Pleasant Valley (3-3 EPC/5-5 overall).
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Emmaus 72, PM West 60
PMW – JuJu Pagan 5 12-14 23, KJ Coles 4 0-0 11, Devin Artis 2 1-2 5, Adrian Brito 7 0-0 14, De’von Smith 2 0-0 4, Ethan Sakwa 0 0-0 0, James Stewart 0 0-0 0, Jonathan Mateo 1 0-0 3, Jayden Huggins 0 0-0 0. Totals: FG 20, FT 13-16, 3s – 5 (Coles 3, Pagan, Mateo)
Em – Will Barber 5 6-8 18, Dylan Darville 8 12-16 28, Chase Muckey 4 0-0 9, Jametric Harris 3 1-2 8, Jake Fotta 2 0-2 5, Jackson Lake 1 0-0 2, Teague McCourt 0 0-0 0, Rafael Terrero 1 0-0 2, Pacey Santos 0 0-0 0, Aidan Santos 0 0-0 0, Dom Nunez 0 0-0 0. Totals: FG 24, FT 19-30, 3s – 5 (Barber 2, Fotta, Muckey, Harris)
JV – Emmaus 45-44 (Rafael Terrero GW 3-pointer)
PHOTO GALLERY (Courtesy of Nathan Lewis)
