Emmaus battled Liberty for much of its matchup on Tuesday night at home at ‘The Hive’, but the Hornets struggled offensively late in the game and couldn’t get stops on the defensive end as the Hurricane pulled away for 63-46 victory.
Liberty outscored Emmaus 30-19 in the second half, including 15-7 in the fourth quarter, as they avoided an upset against head coach Eric Luckenbill’s team who had won three of its last four games.
Junior Lucas Stephan came off the bench and scored a team-high 18 points for the Hornets in the loss, including 10 in the first half as Emmaus trailed by just six points (33-27) at the break.
Junior Matt Rooney and sophomore Noeah Newsome each added nine points, while junior Jacob Ross had eight for the Hornets who dropped to 1-4 in the EPC and 3-6 overall.
Emmaus trailed by as much as 16 points with under five minutes left in the second quarter, but the Hornets went on a 11-0 run to cut the deficit to six (33-27) at the half. They were still within striking distance down 50-46 with five minutes left in the game, before the Hornets went cold the rest of the game while Liberty used 13-0 run to close out the victory.
Liberty was led by senior Jake Pukszyn who scored a game-high 20 points. Classmate Jarrell Teague added 11 and sophomore Dylan Bilger and junior Luke Heffernan had eight points apiece for the Hurricane who improved to 4-1 in the EPC and 5-2 overall.
Emmaus will return to action on Thursday at 7 p.m. as they travel to Dieruff (3-2 EPC/5-3 overall).
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Liberty 63, Emmaus 46
Lib – Luke Heffernan 4 0-0 8, Jake Pukszyn 7 6-10 22, Jarrell Teague 4 1-2 11, Dylan Bilger 3 1-2 8, Quin Lucas-Bishop 1 0-0 2, Will Palmer 3 0-0 6, Brayden Kashner 0, Samir Brown 0, Treyce Whitlow 0, Mason Marfil 0. Totals: FG 24, FT 10-16, 3s (5 – Pukszyn 2, Teague 2, Bilger)
Em- Tim Toles 0, Matt Rooney 4 1-2 9, Noeah Newsome 3 1-1 9, Jake Ross 3 2-2 8, Cole Stuchko 0. Subs: Lucas Stephan 5 5-5 18, Ben Grochowski 1 0-0 2, Othello Karto 0, Jayden Swan 0, Mitch Pisarcik 0, Ty Laird 0, Nate Bottjer 0. Totals: FG 16, FT 9-10, 3s (5 – Stephan 3, Newsome 2)
Lib – 22-11-15-15 – 63
Em- 12-15-12-7 – 46
JV – Emmaus 49-44