RECAP — Emmaus had four players reach double figures in a game for the second time this season as the Hornets used a big second half to pull away from archrival Parkland for a 60-51 win on Thursday night at Parkland High School, sweeping the season-series from the Trojans.
The game, which was originally scheduled for Tuesday, was postponed twice due the recent storm and both school districts being closed.
The victory was the seventh straight for Emmaus which improved to 11-2 in the EPC and 16-3 overall. It was also the second time this season that the Hornets have defeated Parkland (63-50 in the first meeting).
“The boys deserve all the credit tonight,” said Hornets head coach Steve Yoder. “We had to make some changes at halftime and they owned them and I couldn’t be more proud of them.”
“We are a team defensively that helps a lot and at halftime we basically said ‘scrap that’ because they killed us with threes in the first half. We made that adjustment and we started getting stops and then we got to run up and down the floor. Those two things I thought were the difference in the second half.”
Senior Mark Swedberg paced a balanced scoring attack for the Hornets finishing 7 of 11 from the field and scoring nine of his team-high 15 points after halftime. It marked the fifth straight game that Swedberg has reached double figures.
Fellow senior Zach Sabol was right behind with 14 points, 10 coming in the second half, while classmate Bryce Diehl was next scoring nine of his 13 points in the opening half. Another senior, Ethan Parvel, came off the bench and provided a spark as he scored eight of his 10 points in the second half for the Hornets who outscored Parkland 32-20.
“We feel we have multiple scorers, ” said Yoder. “It’s easier for teams to defend one good player or maybe two good scorers, but we’re blessed and fortunate to have four guys and maybe five that can put double digits on you at anytime.”
Parkland, losers of three straight, dropped to 8-5 in the EPC and 12-6 overall. The Trojans were led in scoring by junior Jared Kucharczuk who had a game-high 16 points and classmate Jake Melady who added 14.
Emmaus had trailed 31-28 at the half, but the Hornets came out of the locker room and outscored the Trojans 13-4 in the third quarter to take a six-point lead (41-35) into the final period.
The Hornets shot 45 percent from the field (20 of 44) and were clutch from the free-throw line where they shot a season-best 93 percent (14 of 15). Parkland, meanwhile, was just 41 percent from the floor (17 of 41), but an impressive 50 percent from beyond the arc (10 of 20).
Emmaus will be right back in action on Friday at 7 p.m. as they travel to Rockne Hall to take on Central Catholic. The Hornets crushed the Vikings in the first matchup between the two teams 79-37 back in December.
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Emmaus – Zach Sabol 6-10 2-2 14, Bryce Diehl 3-6 7-7 13, Mark Swedberg 7-11 1-1 15, Cam Brooks 1-6 2-3 5, Devon Boyko 0-3 0-0 0. Subs. Danny Bohman 1-3 0-0 3, Josh Moyer 0-0 0-0 0, Ethan Parvel 3-4 2-2 10. Totals: FG 20-44, FT 14-15, 3s 4-14 (Brooks, Bohman, Parvel 2)
Parkland – Trey Rolle 1-2 0-0 3, Nick Rappa 0-2 2-2 2, Logan Rindock 3-7 0-0 7, Jared Kucharczuk 5-8 3-4 16, Jake Melady 4-13 2-2 14. Subs: Gabe Khalife 2-4 0-0 5, Adam Klinger 2-5 0-0 4. Totals: FG 17-41, FT 7-8, 3s 10-20 (Rolle, Rindock, Kucharczuk 3, Melady 4, Khalife)
Emmaus – 16 – 12 – 13 – 19 – 60
Parkland – 18 – 13 – 4 – 16 – 51
JV – Park 45-43 OT
Fresh – Park 38-32
Records – Em 11-2 EPC, 16-3 overall; Park 8-5, 12-6