The Emmaus High School boys basketball team had an up-and-down regular season in the Lehigh Valley Boys Varsity Summer Basketball League. The Green Hornets still finished in the top-four overall of the Big School Division out of 22 teams with a 7-3 record.

For head coaches and programs alike, the summer league basketball offseason is less about the results on the court and more about the reps and experience the players get from the games. That is the same for head coach Steve Yoder and his program’s mindset when looking at the bigger picture of this offseason.

“It has been a productive summer so far and we still have another tournament to play [this weekend],” said Yoder. “I think with what we had returning, we all have had an expectation to win a few ballgames, but summer basketball is often about much more. Players graduate and new players work themselves into the rotation. A lot of it is just about the boys playing together, and we have been able to do a lot of that this summer.”

Emmaus earned the four seed in last week’s eight-team playoff format. Competing against the fifth seed and four-time defending district champion, Executive Education Charter School, the Green Hornets competed until the very end, but fell just short of a berth in the semifinals, dropping the game 49-39 last Tuesday evening at Whitehall Middle School.

“We played a good game overall I thought,” Yoder said. “They showed you why they’re the defending district champs in their classification and how talented they are. I thought we held our own and competed.”

Big School Division top seed, Parkland, defeated the second seed, Muhlenberg Township 59-47 in a battle of unbeaten teams in the night cap to improve its record to 15-0. Matt Ray led all scorers with 29 points for the Trojans. Northwestern capped off its stellar summer by winning gold, defeating the second seed and Colonial League foe, Saucon Valley, 43-40 last Thursday night in the small school division championship game at Whitehall High School.

That caps the LV summer league action for Emmaus, which will still compete in the A-town Throwdown event this weekend at Cedar Beach. Yoder is glad to see his team play once more before the offseason concludes and has been proud of the hard work his team has shown.

“They really look forward to all the challenges the summer presents to us,” said Yoder. “I want to see that team that steps on the floor and plays hard. When we do that, we are usually a really competitive team.”