Defense, defense and more defense... Hornets stifle Whitehall for 10th straight victory
by Scott Johnson
http://www.emmaussports.com
January 14, 2012
During its nine-game win streak, the Emmaus boys basketball team has been putting up record numbers on the offensive end of the floor, averaging nearly 70 points per game.
In its Lehigh Valley Conference home game against Whitehall on Friday, the Hornets showed they're a pretty good team on the other end of the floor.
Emmaus allowed just 13 second half points and limited Whitehall to its lowest offensive output of the season, as the Hornets rolled to their 10th straight win of the season, 58-35 win before a near-capacity crowd at 'The Hive.'
With the win, Emmaus improved to 10-1 overall and remained one of two unbeatens in the Lehigh Valley Conference (6-0) - along with Freedom.
The Hornets also remained perfect at home this season (5-0) and won their fourth straight over Whitehall.
Senior Greg Bobal led all scorers with a game-high 16 points while junior Derek Tannous added 14 and senior Steve Bitto had 11 points off the bench for the Hornets who during their impressive win streak have outscored their opponents by an average margin of nearly 19 points (18.8) per game.
Emmaus led by just five (27-22) early in the second quarter before they went on a 19-0 run to increase its lead to 46-22 late in the third. Defensively, the Hornets held Whitehall to just 5 of 22 (23 percent) from the floor in the second half.
Senior Chris Moran, who came into the game averaging 16.4 ppg, was limited to just nine of his points - all in the first half. The Zephyrs have lost three of their last four to drop to 6-5 overall and 2-4 in the LVC North Division.
With Whitehall in its rear view mirror, the Hornets can now look ahead to next Tuesday night and the rematch against Parkland, the only team that has knocked off Emmaus this season.