Zach Sabol and his Emmaus teammates weren’t about to let history repeat itself to its biggest rival.
Not this time.
After blowing a 17-point lead and eventually losing 50-47 against Parkland on its home floor a year ago, the Hornets 6-9 senior center made it known early on Tuesday night before a standing-room only crowd at ‘The Hive’ that there would be no hint of comeback this season.
Sabol came up with a herculean effort with a double-double, scoring a game-high 17 points while pulling down 18 rebounds to go along with five blocks leading a balanced offensive attack as Emmaus raced out to a big early lead before eventually settling for a 63-50 win over the Trojans in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference opener for both teams.
“We wanted to come out and play hard and that’s what we did. It was such an amped up game and I thought we played really well,” said Sabol following the win.
“It was in the back of our minds what happened last year, there’s always some bad blood playing Parkland. We haven’t beaten them at home in five years so it’s nice to finally get a win for ‘The Hive.’
Indeed.
The win at home was the first for Emmaus against the Trojans since the 2012-13 season (50-47) and it also marked just the second time in the last 11 meetings that the Hornets have defeated their arch-rival since 2014-15.
Head coach Steve Yoder’s team, the No. 10 ranked team in the Class 6A pre-season poll, left little doubt who was the better team in this one as they led from wire-to-wire, using a big first and third quarters in building as much as a 21-point lead in the second half.
Seniors Mark Swedberg and Ethan Parvel each contributed 14 points in the win, with Swedberg scoring 10 of his points in the first half and Parvel doing most of his damage after halftime with 11 points. Fellow senior Bryce Diehl came off the bench and scored eight points, while another senior, Devon Boyko, added a career-high seven points.
“You win with seniors, they get it,” said Yoder, the Hornets 11th year coach. “There was a little bit of selfishness in our first game. There was zero of that tonight. We had three guys in double digits and we had six or seven guys that scored. We’re going to be a tough team to beat if we get that kind of scoring.”
For the game, Emmaus shot 45 percent from the floor (25-for-55), but struggled from both beyond the arc at 23 percent (3-of-13) and the free-throw line at 47 percent (10-of-21).
Parkland, meanwhile, struggled all night hitting just 38 percent from the field (17-of-45) and a 22 percent from 3-point range (4 of 18). The Trojans, who were without one of its leading scorers senior Logan Rindock (out with an injury), were led in scoring by junior Jared Kucharczuk who had a team-high 14 points — 12 coming after halftime. Teammates Jake Melady and Gabe Khalife each added eight.
Emmaus (2-0 overall, 1-0 EPC) will be back in action on Friday at 7 p.m. with their first road game of the season at Northampton.
Keep up to do date with the team on social media on facebook (Emmaus boys basketball) and twitter (@Emmaussports, @Emmausboysbball).
Parkland – Nick Rappa 1-2 1-1 3, Adam Klinger 2-7 2-3 6, Gabe Khalife 3-10 1-2 8, Jared Kucharczuk 4-10 5-5 14, Jake Melady 3-7 1-1 8. Subs: Dylan Rhoads 0-2 0-0 0, Ian Dashukewich 2-2 0-0 4, John Panny 1-4 0-0 2, Elgadro Rolle 1-1 0-0 3. Totals: FG 17-45, FT 10-12.
Emmaus – Zach Sabol 6-7 5-8 17, Mark Swedberg 7-18 0-1 14, Devon Boyko 3-9 0-0 7, Danny Bohman 1-2 0-2 2, Ethan Parvel 5-11 2-4 14. Subs: Bryce Diehl 3-6 2-2 8, Cam Brooks 0-1 0-0 0, Josh Moyer 0-0 1-4 1. Stefan Rollins 0-1 0-0 0., Patrick Hunter 0-0 0-0 0, Totals: FG 25-55, FT 10-21, 3s (3 – Parvel 2, Boyko),
Park – 7-16-13-14 – 50
Em – 16-12-25-10 – 63
JV – Park 59-50 (Em: Henseler 13 points)