RECAP >> Steve Yoder wasn’t hiding behind his words or his feelings.
“It’s about as devastating as a loss as you can have for our program, our players and our coaching staff,” said the somber Hornets head coach following his team’s 46-43 overtime loss to Liberty on Wednesday in the District XI Class 6A semifinals. “It was really a disappointing night.”
Indeed it was.
Now the question for Emmaus, which has been amongst the best in the area throughout the regular-season and the No.1 seed in both the EPC and district playoffs, is how will they respond after seeing their hopes of winning only the program’s second-ever District XI championship, come to an end.
Facing the a Liberty team it had soundly defeated by 21 points in the EPC quarterfinals playoffs less than three weeks ago, the Hornets and their fans were stunned in disbelief as they exited Easton Area Middle School’s gymnasium following a result that many didn’t think was possible.
A young Liberty squad — featuring a starting lineup of two freshmen, one sophomore and two seniors — had other ideas as they gained revenge and took Emmaus to overtime before pulling off the stunner and earning themselves a berth in Saturday’s district final against the defending champs, Parkland, who knocked off Freedom 54-44 in the other semifinal.
“”I’m heartbroken for the kids because this hasn’t been us all year,” said the Hornets 15th year coach referencing his team’s season-low 29 percent (16 of 55) shooting on the night. “We were giving ourselves opportunity after opportunity and shots we normally made throughout the year just weren’t falling.”
Despite that and being held to its second lowest offensive point production of the season, Emmaus still had their chances especially late in the game as they were rallying.
With the game tied at 36, the Hornets held the ball for the final three minutes looking for the game-winning shot, but junior Jametric Harris’ 3-pointer from the top of the key hit off the back of the rim forcing overtime.
“I wouldn’t change it at all. It was absolutely the right decision” said Yoder about holding the ball which drew a loud chorus of boos resonating throughout the gym. “Why not hold it. Points were at a premium for both teams. We wanted to have a good quality possession and at that point, we knew we couldn’t lose the game and they couldn’t win it unless we turned it over.”
“The play was actually designed for Will (Barber),” he added. “He was our offensive engine and we wanted the ball in his hands and keep it simple. We set a high-ball screen for him and they (Liberty) pinched in on him, but Jametric got a clean look at the shot.
“I thought we were the better team in the last 10 minutes of the game and I felt good going into overtime.”
Liberty scored the first points in the extra session and outscored the Hornets 10-7, converting most of their points from the free-throw line where they went 8 of 9. For the game, the Hurricane shot a blistering 81 percent (17 of 21) compared to Emmaus which struggled at just 50 percent (6 of 12).
Liberty, which last played for a district title back in 2011, was led in scoring by sophomore Dwayne Chess who had a team-high 18 points. Junior Angel Holguin was huge off the bench with a career-high 13 points and eight rebounds and freshman Jake Pukszyn added 10.
For Emmaus, Barber scored a game-high 19 points, including all 10 of his team’s points in the third quarter while Harris added 11. Senior Dylan Darville, who came in averaging 12 points a game, was held scoreless.
The Hornets will now have to regroup quickly following the disappointing loss and get ready to take on Freedom in the third-place game at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday with the all-important berth in the PIAA State Tournament on the line.
“It was somber as you would expect in our locker room following the game but as a staff we told the kids there’s still a great opportunity to qualify for states, which is special,” said Yoder. “Only 32 teams in the commonwealth make it in 6A but we have to beat a good Freedom team first.”
The two teams met once during the regular-season with Emmaus winning a thriller at Freedom 66-65 in overtime on December 20.
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Liberty 46, Emmaus 43 (OT)
Lib – Blake Hargrove 1 0-0 2, Jake Pukszyn 2 5-6 10, Dwayne Chess Jr. 5 7-9 18, Axcel Kamanga 1 0-0 2, Caden Vermuelen 0 1-2 1, Nate Rivera 0 0-0 0, Angel Holguin 4 4-4 13. Totals: FG 13, FT 17-21, 3s – 3 (Pukszyn, Chess, Holguin)
Em – Will Barber 7 1-2 19, Dylvan Darville 0 0-2 0, Jametric Harris 5 1-2 11, Chase Muckey 1 4-4 6, Jake Fotta 2 0-0 5, Jackson Lake 1 0-2 2, Jack Csensits 0 0-0 0, Teague McCourt 0 0-0 0, Rafael Terrero 0 0-0 0. Totals: FG 16, FT 6-12, 3s – 5 (Barber 4, Fotta)
Lib – 6-18-7-5-10 – 46
Em – 8-11-10-7-7 – 43