Emmaus finally got the monkey off its back.

After losing three times to Parkland last year, the Green Hornets were able to get revenge, and hand the Trojans their first loss in the Lehigh Valley Conference last Tuesday night 55-52 in front of a packed house at Emmaus.

After a Derrick Tannous three that untied the score at 8-5 in favor of Emmaus, the Green Hornets never trailed again, and the Hornets nest nearly blew the roof off with the volume of cheers for both teams.

"This is probably the hardest gym to play in," said head coach Andy Stephens. "That's a huge momentum booster for the home team. I told the kids to cherish that environment. I think some did, and others it may have got to them."

Emmaus (7-5 overall, 6-1 LVC) used its size and strength inside to do most of their damage. Joey Nicolini (17 points, eight rebounds), Nate Feiertag (eight points, six rebounds), and Gabe Shankweiler (14 points, four rebounds) outmuscled the Trojans in the post.

"We competed we just didn't make good plays when we needed to," said Stephens. "We weren't playing well enough offensively to counter that, and we put ourselves in a hole early."

Austin Beidelman (15 points) hit two first quarter three pointers, and Parkland (11-2, 6-1) got another solid night from junior forward Justin Zajko (24 points), but the Trojans just couldn't complete the long comeback.

Emmaus held a 13-point lead in the third quarter, but after a timeout, everyone on the bench knew the game was far from over.

Parkland pulled back to within six after the third quarter. Beidelman scored six straight points, and the Trojans saw themselves down just two at 51-49 with a little under two minutes to go.

After a couple of key stops, Parkland could not get that score to either tie the game or take the lead.

Emmaus went 9-of-13 from the free throw line in the fourth to bring home the win.

"After winning 11 games in a row, you kind of get a bit complacent," said Stephens. "There were some weaknesses tonight that we are going to have to work on. We need to get stronger and better defensively."

The Lehigh Valley Conference is a battle. Anything can happen on any given night. After Emmaus stumbled at Whitehall, losing by 13, the Green Hornets took care of the hottest team in the league.

It is just one loss, but Parkland does not have to sulk about it, with another encounter against Freedom (8-5, 4-3) on Friday night at home awaiting the Trojans. The Patriots took the first meeting between the teams in the season-opener the Trojans' only loss before Tuesday night.