Coach Steve Yoder has talked about how his players want to step out from the shadow of last year's team that won the Lehigh Valley Conference and just missed a bid in the PIAA tournament.

The problem was that after losing eight seniors, this was thought to be a rebuilding year for Emmaus basketball.

But with a strong 66-48 win over division rival Central Catholic Friday, Yoder's team, which was picked to finish at or near the bottom of its division, is now 4-2 on the season and 3-0 in the LVC. The record includes wins over each of their division rivals to stand on top of the West Division, shifting the Hornets from the shadow to the spotlight.

"Our players play above their talent. That's not to say that they're not talented, but they keep coming through in big ways and make the most of every situation," said Yoder.

The win over Central Catholic followed a somewhat tumultuous day. Originally, the game was to be played at Emmaus, but a bomb threat at the school moved the game to Central Catholic's Rockne Hall. The change in venue didn't turn out to be a factor for the players, who simply rose to the occasion and saw an opportunity to beat the Vikings on their court.

Nate Feiertag, who finished with 17 points and at one point scored 11 straight for the Hornets, said there is an advantage to having played the game at Rockne.

"At first, we were disappointed, but then we realized that if we came in here [to Rockne Hall] and beat them here, we would have them on our court later in the season," said Feiertag.

Yoder credited Feiertag for his big play this season and how he sort of sneaks up on an opponent.

"He scores the quietest 15 points you'll ever see," Yoder said. "You don't realize how good he is, but he's always got the points to prove it."

Senior Derek Tannous, scored a game-high 22 points, 18 of which came on three-pointers. Three of those shots turned out to be momentum builders. Tannous both opened and closed the third quarter with three-pointers, giving the Hornets momentum to start the second half and then hitting a long, desperation three-pointer at the buzzer to put Emmaus up 47-29. In the fourth quarter, Central Catholic had cut Emmaus' 20-point lead down to nine with a barrage of threes when Tannous answered with one of his own to take the air out of the Vikings' comeback.

"I wasn't really looking for a three-pointer, necessarily, but they left me open and I took the shot," said Tannous.

Tannous had been slumping on threes coming into the game, but turned that around quickly, hitting six of nine shots from behind the arc. For his part, Yoder doesn't shy away from getting the ball to Tannous, even when he's slumping.

"The other night, he wasn't hitting, but late in the game, we were still calling sets to get the ball to him," Yoder said. "In my obviously partial opinion, he's one of the best pure shooters in the state, so when we need a shot, we're going to go to him."

Perhaps the biggest key of the game was the fact that Emmaus held Central Catholic's Muhammad Ali Abdur-Rahkman to just five points, well under his season average of 24 points per game. The fact is, that the Hornets have always done well in containing Abdur-Rahkman, one of the best players in the area.

"A lot of that credit has to go to Dan Brndjar and Kane McGovern. They did an outstanding job on him and really kept him from being a factor," said Yoder.

The team is set for a two-day trip to Pittsburgh to play in the Penn Hills Holiday Tournament, facing Pittsburgh Central Catholic on Thursday and Penn Hills on Friday. After the holidays, the team returns to The Hive to host Northampton on January 4.