The Parkland High School boys basketball team had the rival Emmaus Hornets just where it wanted them. Or so the Trojans thought.

The Trojans looked up at the scoreboard early in the third quarter and saw that they were leading by double-figures, 31-21. But the Hornets showed resilience and used a third-quarter comeback to take down rival Parkland, 52-44, last Thursday night in an Eastern Pennsylvania Conference West Division game at Parkland High School.

Matt Bauer scored a basket with 5:25 left in the third quarter to take the 31-21 lead, but the Hornets (12-2, 7-2) responded by scoring 21 straight points, including 12 after their point guard and leader Dylan Darville exited the contest. That propelled them to a 42-31 advantage early in the fourth quarter and Parkland never got closer than four points the rest of the way.

“We were in a good position I thought,” said head coach Andy Stephens. “But I think that really fired them up instead of putting them down. They came out really strong and played lights out in the third and fourth quarters. It was nothing our guys did or didn’t do. They played with a lot of motivation in the second half.”

Leading scorer Will Barber had a game-high 17 points and six steals for Emmaus, which finished with nine steals total. He gave the Hornets their first lead of the second half, 32-31 with 2:29 left in the third. Jadis Brevitt then had a driving bucket with 25 seconds to go before Parkland missed a 3-point attempt and Barber scored a layup on a runout in the closing moments, giving the visitors a 38-31 lead going into the final quarter of play. Brevitt attacked the basket again to close the scoring spurt and push Emmaus ahead 42-31 with 6:07 left to go.

The Trojans went more than seven minutes without a basket before sophomore Nick Coval ended the drought and sparked a seven-point run. Bauer brought the Trojans within 42-38 with 4:33 on the clock, as the hosts cranked up the pressure on Emmaus.

Barber collected an offensive rebound off a missed foul shot, which led to a free-throw by Darville, who returned to the game in the fourth quarter. A Parkland turnover followed, and then Emmaus’ Ryan Santos made a layup to give the Green Hornets more breathing room at 47-38 with 1:25 to play.

“We didn’t quit when they made their comeback,” Stephens said. “And I’m proud of them for that. I think we just ran out of gas at the end.”

Senior Will Meeker and Coval each finished with 12 points.

Parkland (8-5 overall, 7-2 EPC) bounced back the next day, taking down Stroudsburg. The Trojans also defeated Bethlehem Catholic this past Tuesday. They host Whitehall on Friday night and Easton on Saturday.