Freedom opened last week's slate of summer basketball with one of their toughest games to date. Despite seemingly everything stacked against them, the Patriots didn't waver.

A quick 8-0 deficit to one of the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference's (EPC) top teams in Emmaus didn't doom Freedom. The fact that they had just one incoming senior suit up compared to a Hornet squad full of talent from the winter didn't faze the Patriots, either.

And while the Patriots did end up a few points short a 51-45 defeat last Tuesday at Cedar Beach's Court 1, coach Marc Corsi was pleased with his team's effort on both ends of the court.

"I thought that was one of the better games that we played," Corsi said. "I'm hoping we can build off this game, and continue to play like that. I think they're one of the better teams in the league, and we went blow for blow with them I thought."

Najee Cash, the lone senior in black and gold, figured to play in key role in the Patriots' success. He scored five points in the opening half, and along with Tyrese Stewart's eight-point first-half effort, the Patriots turned a 19-10 deficit into a one-point margin at halftime.

"He [Cash] is going to be one of the guys we rely on," Corsi said. "We have a couple of other guys that we're missing. Nicholas King is a guy we're going to rely on, and he wasn't here today. He [Cash] is a senior and his third year on varsity, so we're going to expect a lot out of him."

Cash and Stewart (who finished with a team-high 18 points), an incoming junior, handled the soring load for the Patriots all night. The duo scored all but one bucket for Freedom in the second half, keeping the Patriots within striking distance until the final whistle.

"He [Stewart] is tough," Corsi said. "He played a lot of minutes tonight, and we didn't have a lot of big guys there. We got everything we could get out of him."

Trailing 24-23 at the break after Daevon Quick's buzzer-beating three-pointer, Emmaus went on a 10-2 run to open the second half. Freedom, however, quickly got back to within three points on a Stewart bucket. Moments later, the two teams were tied at 41 on Cash's three-point play.

But the Hornets closed out the game on a 10-4 run to send Freedom to 2-4 in the Stellar Construction summer basketball league.

The Patriots were able to use their defense and benefit on the offensive end of the court with transition baskets and high-percentage shots.

"We've been working on our defense," Corsi said. "We think we can get our offense started with a lot of defensive sets. We played a lot of 1-3-1, and I think we got a lot of steals out of that. That's probably the best it has worked this summer.

"The biggest problem with this team right now is we go in spurts without scoring the basketball. That's something we have to focus on."