Semifinal wins set stage for Emmaus, Parkland
Green Hornets stop Pocono Mtn. West; Trojans top Liberty
Emmaus and Parkland will be moving their “Battle of Cedar Crest Boulevard” rivalry a few miles east on Thursday to 7th and Hamilton streets.
The Green Hornets and Trojans posted impressive Eastern Pennsylvania Conference semifinals victories on Monday night at PPL Center to punch their tickets for a return visit to the downtown Allentown arena on Thursday night, this time with the EPC championship on the line.
Emmaus survived a few surges by No. 2 seed Pocono Mountain West to beat the Monroe County juggernaut 61-47 in Monday’s opener while Parkland methodically wore down No. 4 seed Liberty in the nightcap of the semifinal doubleheader, 52-33, to set up the third meeting of the year between the longtime Lehigh County rivals.
“I’ve played a ton of games here over my career and to play one last game here for the championship against Emmaus. … it’s going to be an awesome night,” said Parkland star Nick Coval who scored 19 points and is now just 24 away from reaching 2,000 in his career.
Defense was the key for both teams and now they’ll have two days to look at film and figure out a game play for Thursday night. Both teams will enter that one with 19-5 records and lots of momentum.
Emmaus bests West
After his team beat Whitehall in the quarterfinals Friday night, Green Hornets coach Steve Yoder said it would likely take his team’s best game of the year to beat Pocono Mountain West. His team may have delivered its best.
They got 19 points from Will Barber and 17 points, including three 3-pointers, 14 rebounds and four blocks from Jametric Harris in getting the program’s first win at PPL Center after two previous postseason losses.
“The boys were ready for the moment,” Yoder said. “I think what we experienced last year [a 64-52 loss to Allentown Central Catholic in the semifinals] probably
factored into tonight. There was a comfort level when we got off the bus. We had more of a business trip mentality. Last year there was more of a sense of awe because it was the first time here for that group.”
Pocono Mountain West started out like it was going to duplicate its semifinal effort of a year ago when the Panthers beat Parkland 61-52. The Panthers (20-4) got 3s from four different players in opening a 14-5 lead in the game’s first five minutes and had five treys overall in the opening stanza.
But Emmaus responded to West’s fast start to stay within 17-14 after one quarter and dominated the second quarter to take a 36-26 halftime lead. Harris scored eight
points in the second quarter and Barber and Owen Hafner added six apiece.
Just as quickly, however, the Panthers erased the deficit after the break and tied the game at 39 on a Devin Artis basket with three minutes left in the third period. That’s where the Hornets defense proved pivotal.
“I thought our zone was huge and if we hadn’t worked so hard on our zone and their zone sets I don’t think we would have survived [Pocono’s run],” Yoder said. “We’re a man-to-man program, so credit to the boys because I like to sneak in a zone here and there and to weather that second half storm,
our zone was big.”
Emmaus closed the third quarter with a 10-3 run and then held the Panthers scoreless for nearly the first six minutes of the final stanza. Pocono Mountain West didn’t score until KJ Coles hit a 3-pointer with 2:17 left. By then, Emmaus was up 56-45.
“Our 3-2 zone defense worked really well tonight,” Harris said. “We really honed in on it in our last couple of practices and it really paid off.”
The 47 points was West’s second-lowest total of the season after a 57-40 loss at Parkland on Dec. 15. The Panthers, who had a ninegame win streak snapped, were held 16 points below their season average.
“I’m a little upset with my guys right now,” said West coach Rich Williams. “We had blank looks out there. I don’t know how to explain it. We had a lot of blank looks prior to the game and a lot of blank looks in the game. The guys who are usually ready to go weren’t ready to go tonight. I wish I had the answer. I don’t know what it is about us in playoff games, but it’s frustrating.”
The Panthers will be the No. 1 seed in the upcoming District 11 5A tournament and they will have some time to turn the page and get ready for another challenge, but Williams wasn’t happy. All four of his team’s losses this season have come in the Lehigh Valley — at Notre Dame-Green Pond, Parkland, Allentown Central Catholic and now at the PPL Center.
“We felt good coming in and the staff felt good because we had a couple of good days of practice,” Williams said. “Maybe the best answer is that these are 16- and 17-year-old kids. Maybe sometimes things are going on outside that I don’t know about but that wasn’t us.”
Devin Artis led West and Adrian Brito added 12, but after five treys in the first quarter the EPC North champs had just two the rest of the way. The Panthers were just 2-for-13 from the field and missed their first 11 shots in the final period.
Meanwhile, Emmaus kept attacking.
“I thought at one point they were shying away from the moment and I called timeout and said ‘I need five scorers on the floor, I need five guys who are willing to go to the rim and play to win’ and that’s you saw in the fourth quarter,” Yoder said. “I knew [West] wasn’t going to go away, but we really executed at a high level tonight and hopefully we have more of that on Thursday night.”