During its season-long seven game win streak, Emmaus had been getting it done on the defensive end allowing just over 43 points to its opponents.
The last two games, however, have been a different story for head coach Steve Yoder’s team as it’s been a pair of back-to-back defeats in a span of 19 hours at home at ‘The Hive.’
Facing arch-rival and the league’s only unbeaten team Parkland last night, Emmaus had no answers on the defensive end as they gave up a season-high for points in a game in suffering their worst loss of the season in a 28-point defeat (73-45) to the Trojans.
Just hours later, the Hornets were then faced with task of trying to regroup and get motivated to play a Saturday afternoon matinee game against a solid District One team in Methacton from the Pioneer Athletic Conference (PAC).
And credit to Emmaus for regrouping and battling back after being down by 10 points at the half, but defensively they couldn’t get stops for the second game in a row as the Warriors pulled away for the nine-point victory, topping Parkland’s 73-point effort with a 77-68 win over the Hornets.
With the loss, Emmaus has now dropped two straight and their overall mark stands at 16-5. In the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference, they are 12-3 and still in good position to earn a first round home game when the league playoffs get underway next Friday.
For the week, which featured a grueling stretch of four games in six days, the Hornets finished 2-2.
In Friday’s loss to Parkland before a sellout crowd, Emmaus hung around for one quarter trailing 18-14, but after that it was all Trojans as they outscored the hosts the rest of the way 55-31, sweeping the regular-season series.
Senior Nick Coval, Parkland’s all-time leading scorer, pumped in 21 points, classmate Jayden Thomas added 20, Zaire Smaltz 18 (17 in the first half) and fellow senior Robbie Ruisch added nine on three 3-pointers to lead the Trojans, who won their 10th straight game.
For Emmaus, senior Will Barber scored a team-high 21 points, while classmate Jametric Harris added 11.
Against Methacton, the Hornets trailed for the most of the game and put together a late-game rally, but the Warriors were able to withstand the comeback to pull away for the victory.
Harris matched his season-high with 24 points in the loss, while Barber added 19.
For the Warriors, sophomore Christian Matos had a team-high 20 points, junior Sal Lemmello added 19 and seniors Alex Hermann and Emmanuel Rodriguez had 13 and 11 points, respectively.
Emmaus will look to snap its two-game losing streak on Monday as they travel to Whitehall for the regular-season finale. Tipoff is 7 p.m.
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Methacton 77, Emmaus 68 (Saturday)
Meth – Anthony Daddazio 1 0-0 3, Mason Conrad 2 0-0 5, Sal Lemmello 6 6-7 19, Christian Matos 5 8-10 20, Alex Hermann 6 1-3 13, Emmanuel Rodriguez 4 0-0 11, Wesley Robinson 3 0-0 6. Totals: FG 27, FT 15-20, 3s (8) – Rodriguez 3, Matos 2, Daddazio, Conrad, Lemmello, Matos
Em – Teague McCourt 2 1-2 5, Jack Csensits 3 0-0 8, Jametric Harris 9 5-7 24, Matt Volquez 2 2-4 7, Mike Rooney 0, Will Barber 7 5-5 19, Owen Hafner 0, Rafael Terrero 0, Jack Curley-Katrishen 0. Aidan Santos 2 0-0 5. Totals: FG 25, FT 13-18, 3s (5) – Csensits 2, Volquez, Harris, Aidan Santos
Meth – 15-17-17-28 – 77
Em – 12-10-21-25 – 68
Parkland 73, Emmaus 45 (Friday)
Park – Nick Coval 5 10-10 21, Jayden Thomas 8 3-5 20, Robbie Ruisch 3 0-0 9, Luke Spang 1 0-0 3, Zaire Smaltz 8 1-2 18, Blake Nassry 0, Connor Johns 0, Michael Toth 1 0-0 2, Eddie Paz-Romero 0, Owen Rodgers 0. Totals: FG 26, FT 14-17, 3s (7) – Rusich 3, Coval, Thomas, Spang, Smaltz)
Em – Teague McCourt 0, Jack Csensits 1 0-0 2, Jametric Harris 5 1-2 11, Jack Curley-Katrishen 3 0-0 6, Will Barber 6 9-11 21, Matt Volquez 0 2-2 2, Owen Hafner 0, Mike Rooney 0, Pacey Santos 0 1-2 1, Rafael Terrero 1 0-0 2, Aidan Santos 0. Totals: FG 16, FT 13-17, 3s (0).
Park – 18-25-17-13 – 73
Em – 14-7-19-5 – 45