The Emmaus High School boys basketball team did not have a whole lot go right during the 2020-21 regular season. But the bright lights of the postseason must have flipped a switch as the ninth-seeded Hornets took it to another gear last week

Emmaus stepped up on both ends of the floor and fought from behind in the second half to defeat the eighth seed Liberty, 60-55, in a District 11 Class 6A first-round game last Tuesday at Liberty High School’s Memorial Gymnasium.

“It was a great high school basketball game from both teams’ standpoints,” said Hornet head coach Steve Yoder. “There’s a lot of talent over there at Liberty. A lot of these guys have played in or been around big games before. This was nothing new to them. We’ve had a lot of big games in the program the last few years, but this is one of my favorite wins. I wanted this one for them. They did everything they could to get this one.”

Emmaus (4-8 overall) trailed by as much as nine in the first half and also found itself behind in the second half in a back-and-forth final 10-plus minutes of action.

Senior Danny Bohman led the team with 14 points and classmate Paddy Tulio recorded 13. But it was three newer players that made their marks. Freshman Will Barber, junior Ryan Diehl and sophomore Daniel Charlot all made their first varsity starts. Barber contributed 12 points, Diehl had eight and Charlot added five.

“Teamwork is a word I’d use to describe this game for us,” said Yoder. “I thought it would be important for us to have multiple guys contribute, and that happened. We had three guys in double figures and six guys score. Defensively we locked it down with our man coverage. Guys came off the bench that might not play a whole lot and stepped up. Great team victory.”

Emmaus was behind 17-8 the first couple of minutes of the second quarter before it went on a 15-6 spurt to tie the score at 23-23 heading into the locker room after halftime. The Hurricanes (3-9) led by three after three, but the Green Hornets offense came alive in the fourth quarter, scoring 24 points and finishing off the game.

The win ended a four-game slide as the Green Hornets won for the first time since defeating Whitehall back on February 9th.

“The regular season was a rough one for us,” Yoder said. “We went 3-8 and we didn’t really have an identity. Following the last loss to Salisbury we opened it back up as a team and every practice was like a tryout. Kids that played tonight earned it. That’s another important aspect of the teamwork and family. I think we’re a different team now then we were at the end of the regular season.”

Emmaus’ season ended in the next round of districts as the Hornets fell to the top seed Pocono Mountain West 58-33 in the quarterfinals this past Thursday.