1/3/19
Playing without two starters due to illness and another to injury, Emmaus picked up right where it left off before the holiday break as they jumped on visiting Stroudsburg early on Thursday night at ‘The Hive’ and eventually rolled to a 69-47 win over the Mounties as Eastern Pennsylvania Conference play resumed for both teams.
With seniors Mark Swedberg and Ethan Parvel both ill and classmate Cameron Brooks nursing an injury, the short-handed Hornets turned to their big 6-9 center Zach Sabol and boy did he deliver.
Sabol recorded his 10th double-double of the season as he finished with a game-high 26 points — one off matching his career-high – to go along with incredible 27 rebounds as Emmaus remained the lone unbeaten in the EPC (5-0) following their ninth win in 10 games.
Fellow senior Bryce Diehl added 15 points and the Hornets also got contributions from a number of other reserves.
“Tonight was a good team win. We were down basically three starters so I was really proud of the team effort.” said Emmaus head coach Steve Yoder. “Before the game we talked a lot about other kids taking advantage of their opportunities. Championship-level teams have important role players and our role players stepped up tonight.”
“I thought Josh Moyer (career-high 7 points) really established himself in the first half and I thought Mason Boyd in the second half was really good. Ryan Todd went in and logged big minutes and Patrick Hunter went in and played hard and Demetrius went in for a little stretch and scored. I wanted to get guys in and make sure that we were in a good spot in the second half.”
Playing at home for the first time in nearly two weeks, Emmaus jumped out to 23-12 lead after the opening quarter with Sabol and sophomore Danny Bohman combining for 12 points. The lead grew to 35-22 at the half before Stroudsburg mounted a big comeback in the third quarter, outscoring the Hornets 19-14 to whittle the lead to just eight (49-41) heading to the fourth.
But the final eight minutes belonged to Emmaus as they outscored the Mounties 20-6, holding the visitors to just three field goals in the final quarter.
Sabol scored 16 of his game-high 26 points in the second half. He finished the game 10-for-13 from the floor.
“It’s just unbelievable what this kid does,” said Yoder of Sabol. “Zach is not about individual accolades. I told him his numbers after the game and the first thing out of his mouth was ‘well we won.’ That’s the kind of kid he is.
“If he is not getting recognition on the state level this year, then shame on those that vote.”
For the game, the Hornets shot 50 percent from the floor (23 of 46) and a season-high 80 percent from the free-throw line (20-25).
Stroudsburg, which dropped to 4-6 overall and 2-3 in the EPC, was led in scoring by Del’Ron Card who had a team-high 19 points. Teammates Gerard Richburg and Mike Stouse added 11 and 10 points, respectively.
Up next for Emmaus will be a key matchup on Saturday at 7 p.m. as they travel to Bethlehem Catholic to take on the Golden Hawks.
Stroudsburg – Gerard Richburg 4 1-2 11, Mike Strouse 2 4-5 10, Del’Ron Card 8 1-3 18, Jaden Adams 1 0-0 3, Walter Deans 0 2-2 2. FG 16, FT 8-12, 3s (8 – Richburg 2, Strouse 2, White 2, Adams)
Emmaus – Zach Sabol 10 6-9 26, Bryce Diehl 4 6-7 15, Devon Bokyo 0 5-6 65, Josh Moyer 3 1-1 7, Danny Bohman 2 2-2 8. Subs: Stefan Rollins 0 0-0 0, Patrick Hunter 0 0-0 0, Ryan Todd 1 0-0 2, Mason Boyd 2 0-0 4, Demetrius Stephanides 1 0-0 2, Patrick Tulio 0 0-0 0. Totals: FG 23, FT 20-25, 3s (3 – Bohman 2, Diehl)
SB – 12 – 10 – 19 – 6 – 47
Em – 23 – 12 – 14 – 20 – 69