A very successful summer for the Parkland boys basketball team came to a sudden end in the first round of the Stellar Summer League playoffs last Thursday night at Cedar Beach.

A blown 10-point lead late in the second half brought the summer to a close for the Trojans, losing to rival Emmaus 53-48 in overtime.

"There were some bad shots, and we didn't move the ball well offensively," said assistant coach Justin Christein. "That's our offensive game right there, ball movement. We didn't stick our noses in there and grab lose balls either. We needed to play tougher to win that basketball game."

Parkland had that physical swagger to them all summer long, reaching the final four in the Stellar "Catch A Rising Star" Tournament and winning Sportsfest. Last Thursday, they were just out-matched.

The Trojans held a lead, although slim, throughout most of the first half. The usual contributors of Austin Beidelman, Justin Zajko, Nick Rindock and Jimmy Hahn, tallied all but five points for Parkland in that half.

The struggles from the field were imminent and after two free throws from Dan Brndjar put the Green Hornets ahead for the first time 25-24 at halftime, head coach Andy Stephens decided to have his young team figure it out on their own. As Emmaus huddled on the other bench, the five Parkland starters stood together near mid court in discussion.

"We wanted them to show that they want to compete, not just to go through the motions," said Christein. "One of the fears for a coach is after winning Sportsfest, that we just rest on our laurels. And we thought that we could just step out on the court and win like that. We beat them earlier this summer and our JV's beat them in Stellar, so it was a bad omen."

Whatever was said in the huddle sure seemed to fire up the troops. Parkland went on a 20-9 run to go up by 10 with less than three minutes remaining. Then the wheels all but fell off.

Emmaus went on a 10-0 spurt, paced by seven points from Nate Feiertag, to force overtime. In the overtime period, Parkland would only score on a three-point basket by Zajko, who later fouled out, and couldn't stop Feiertag.

"That hurt us," noted Christein on Zajko fouling out. "We were having a hard time guarding Feiertag, and to lose Justin we had to try and play team defense on him. It hurt losing his offense and defense in a key part of the game."

The loss is a surprising one to many who have followed Parkland throughout the summer, but it doesn't take away from the team's exceptional play over the past three months.

"We are definitely satisfied with our performance here over the summer," Christein said. "We played really gutsy in Stellar and we played great at Sportsfest. We just played good basketball. Every team but one ends with a loss. We would've liked to have come out on top, but as coaches we are pleased with the way the kids played. It's just unfortunate it had to end with an uncharacteristic performance."

Parkland ended its summer by playing in a team camp this past weekend at Saint Joseph's University.