Hornets knock off perennial state power Lower Merion to win Jameer Nelson Classic
by Scott Johnson
http://www.emmaussports.com
December 29, 2011
There was no sighting of current Los Angeles Laker Kobe Bryant inside the newly-named Bryant Gymnasium last Wednesday night.
But even if there was, the former Lower Merion great would have been impressed with the opposing team’s player dawning his No. 24.
Greg Bobal, Emmaus’ 6-foot-3 senior point guard who display’s Bryant’s No. 24, matched the number of his uniform by going out and scoring a career-high 24 points in leading the Hornets to a thrilling 68-65 win over the host school in the championship game of the Lower Merion Coaches vs Cancer Classic.
Bobal put on a Bryant-like performance in earning tournament MVP honors. He also got plenty of help from his teammates as the Hornets posted one of the biggest wins in program history.
“We knew it was going to be tough coming to their home court with this environment but we knew if we played our game we can compete with anyone,” said Bobal who bested his previous career high of 23 against Pocono Mountain East in last year’s opening-round of the District XI playoffs.
The Hornets certainly did that and, in the process, improved to 6-1 on the season, matching the best start by an Emmaus team since 2006.
More importantly, they did against one of Pennsylvania’s most storied programs that entered the game ranked amongst the top 10 in the pre-season state poll and against a team that had won six straight by an average margin of 27 points.
After a stunning season-opening loss to rival Parkland, coach Steve Yoder’s senior-laden team has won six in-a-row and is looking more and more like the team that many think is a serious contender for both Lehigh Valley Conference and District XI championships.
“I think we’re a team that’s getting better,” said the Hornets fourth year head coach. “If you go back to the Parkland game (a 50-43 loss) to now we look a lot different and that’s the goal. You don’t want to be playing your best basketball in December you want to be playing your best basketball at the end of January, February and even into March.”
“We wanted challenges this year and this group we’ve been preparing for some success and it’s starting to come to fruition, but like I told the boys after the game, this isn’t the highlight of the season for us. Use this as the momentum and confidence because we’ve got bigger prizes we got our eyes on,” added Yoder.
For now, though, they’ll take the ‘W’.
Bobal scored 15 of his points before the break, including nailing three 3-pointers, as the two teams battled to a 21-all tie after the first quarter and remained tied at 37 in an entertaining first half. He finished the night connecting on 8 of 13 shots, including a number of key free throws in the last minute of the game.
“He’s our quarterback. We go as he goes,” said Yoder “They (Lower Merion) threw about everything they could at him tonight and he just made good decision after good decision and made clutch shot after clutch shot. I’ve come to expect that of him and I think he expects that of himself.”
Matt Wiseley, the Hornets 6-foot-7 long-armed senior, had his seventh double-double of the season, finishing the game with 13 points and 11 rebounds while ever-improving senior Ryan Fatzinger added 10 points. Emmaus shot a season-best 53 percent (27 of 51) from the floor.
BJ Johnson scored 17 of his team-high 23 points in the second half to lead the Aces (6-2), while Raheem Hall added 16 and Mike Robbins 12.
Emmaus had advanced to the championship game just 24 hour earlier as Wiseley scored a career-high 17 points and added 10 rebounds and five blocks leading four Hornets in double figures in a 75-67 win over Calvert Hall, an all-boys school from the Baltimore, Maryland area.
Fatzinger also pumped in a career-high for points (14) while fellow senior Nate Tannous did the same, coming off the bench and adding 13, including a number of key free throws late in the game. Younger brother, Derek, also finished in double figures, scoring all 11 of his points in the first half.
Emmaus raced out to a 22-8 lead after the first quarter and still held a comfortable 14-point lead at the break - 41-27 - before the Cardinals put on a furious rally in the second half, cutting the Hornets lead to just four points midway thru the fourth quarter.
Emmaus nailed 14 of 16 free throws in the final period and finished the game shooting a season-best 90 percent (19 of 21) from the charity strip.
Calvert Hall was led by senior forward Justin Beck, a Division I recruit, who nearly totaled half of his team's points, finishing with a game-high 31.