The Emmaus High School boys basketball team had its season come to a close last Saturday afternoon in a 61-47 loss to Nazareth in the District 11 Class 6A quarterfinal at Easton Area Middle School. It was the second straight defeat in as many postseason games for the Green Hornets, who also fell in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference quarterfinals.

Fifth-seeded Emmaus concluded its year at 16-8 overall after going 9-26 combined over the previous two years, which included a shortened 2020-21 season. It was a nice bounce-back year for the Green Hornets and head coach Steve Yoder.

“This was one of the most enjoyable seasons you could ask for as a coach,” said Yoder. “The boys embraced being back in the middle of things in the postseason and really overachieved in many ways. It was disappointing that we couldn’t shake things up a bit more in the postseason, but the boys gave everything they had this year and had fun doing it. We’re hoping for bigger things now moving forward.”

The fourth-seeded Blue Eagles won the game by helping themselves out at the free-throw line, hitting 18-of-21 shots from the charity stripe, including 15-of-17 in the fourth quarter.

Nazareth had a 19-17 lead with 3:10 remaining in the second quarter. After Jaden Gallagher made a basket and Will Barber connected on a free-throw to put Emmaus in front, Blue Eagles leading scorer, CJ Santos made a three-point play with 1:53 remaining in the second quarter to push Nazareth to a 22-20 lead.

Nazareth senior guard/forward Ryan Kresge broke another tie with 1:09 on the clock in the second quarter, but Barber had a put back with 44 seconds left to send the game into halftime tied at 24-24.

In the second half, Emmaus managed just two Barber 3-pointers in the third quarter and fell behind 37-30 after three periods. Santos first try put the Hornets ahead 27-24 just 26 seconds into the third period. But the Blue Eagles responded, scoring eight unanswered to end the quarter leading by seven points.

The Green Hornets were able to get back within 37-35 on another Barber trey, but a 9-2 run in the fourth quarter proved decisive. Barber finished with a team-high 14 points.

Jametric Harris connected on a 3-pointer for the Green Hornets with 1:37 left in the fourth quarter to cut Nazareth’s advantage to 50-43.

Jadis Brevitt tallied 12 points for Emmaus and Ryan Santos added eight.

“I honestly felt we were the better team, but it just didn’t work out,” said Emmaus junior Dylan Darville. “It was tied at halftime, but they went on a run. We’re going to build off this season and I think we’re going to have a championship team next year.”

Emmaus will graduate six seniors, including Brevitt, Gallagher, Santos, Brydon Crawford, Ryan Diehl and Ben Kieres.