The opening weekend of high school basketball was one of ups and downs for the Emmaus boys squad.

On Friday night, the season opened with an impressive 63-35 win over East Stroudsburg South in a game that saw Derek Tannous (23 points) and Nate Feiertag (22 points) each hit for over 20 points. While Feiertag was getting the job done inside, Tannous hit six three-pointers to help boost his scoring total.

The following day, Emmaus was back on the court at the Christmas City Classic at Freedom High School, going up against an Easton team that beat them last season in districts, preventing the Hornets from playing in states. This time, after a big comeback, it was again Easton grabbing a win with a 63-57 advantage.

Emmaus may have been looking for a little revenge and finished the first quarter down by just one, but Easton came out hot in the second quarter and started hitting shots from all over the court, draining some key three-pointers. The result was the Red Rovers opening up a 10-point advantage and holding a 34-26 lead at the half.

"I thought tonight was a rare example of how to lose a game in the first half," said coach Steve Yoder.

Unfortunately, things got even worse, before they got better, with Emmaus trailing by as many as 13 points before it started to get some shots to drop with more frequency. The result was a quick closing of the gap as the Hornets went on a 12-3 run late in the third quarter, with Dan Brndjar hitting two three-pointers in the span of 90 seconds. The Hornets trailed by just two after three quarters, putting themselves in position for a shootout in the final stanza.

With just over a minute left in the game, Tannous was awarded a somewhat questionable foul in three-point territory and dropped all three foul shots in to tie the game 55-55. Easton was able to wake up enough to mount its own comeback and hit some key foul shots to get out of the gym with the victory.

"Our second half effort was outstanding, our second half execution was better, but if we play two halves like that, I think there's a very good chance the game ends a little differently," said Yoder of his team's effort.

Joe Nicolini led Emmaus' scoring effort with 15 points and was named the team's MVP for the game. The junior center thought the team's turnaround was impressive, but that ultimately, they came out flat and it hurt them.

"I don't know why we were so flat early on, but they were just able to get through everything that we were trying to do against them defensively," said Nicolini. "The fact that we came back and showed them that we weren't going to be a pushover was a big thing for us. They're a good team and we outplayed them for a chunk of the game and that should give us some confidence."

Yoder also thought his team showed something in the way that they came back at Easton and didn't allow the Red Rovers to blow his team out. He also accepted some of the blame for how his team performed.

"As a coach and a staff, we probably recognize that we could have done some things a little better as well," said Yoder. "We kind of pulled the reins in on them with the game plan and Easton burned us by making shots. In the second half, we cut the kids loose defensively and that's kind of their bread and butter. They play up-tempo and want to challenge, but yet stay disciplined. I thought some of this game could definitely be put on me."

Emmaus looks to improve its 1-1 start Friday night at home against Allen before a trip to East Allentown to face Dieruff next Tuesday.