Two days after scoring his 1000th point at home in front of his family, David Kachelries was back at it, but with some help from one of his family members in his brother Matt.

David and Matt Kachelries combined to score 49 points and lead a comeback effort for a crucial 74-67 Eastern Pennsylvania Conference road win at Central Catholic last Friday night.

As in years past, the Green Hornets started slow out of the gates in Rockne Hall. Missed shots, turnovers and some hot shooting from the Vikings put Emmaus (16-4 overall, 11-3 EPC) in an early hole, trailing 23-12 after one quarter.

Central’s leading scorer, Zay Jennings tallied 13 in the quarter, including two 3-pointers.

“I think we needed to do a better job of switching on Zay [Jennings] because he was hitting a lot of open shots for them,” said Matt Kachelries. “We started losing some confidence when we got down that first quarter. But then we picked it up more in the second and got back into it.”

Emmaus picked it up on both ends of the floor, and that started with the Kachelries brothers.

David and Matt combined to score just two points in that opening quarter, but went for 47 between the two of them over the next three.

David Kachelries had three 3-pointers in the second quarter (5 total), and Matt Kachelries had 14 of his 21 points in the second half where Emmaus fought back to take the lead.

“I love playing in this gym,” said Matt Kachelries. “In the first half a lot of my shots weren’t falling, rimming in and out or whatever, but I just had to keep shooting because I thought eventually they would fall. And they eventually did.”

With three starters (Joey Polczynski, Jake Scarnulis, and Cam Widdoss) and a key reserve (Brandon Rapose) in foul trouble, and having to sit for a majority of the second quarter, the Kachelries led a charge, outscoring the Vikings 18-7 to trail by just three at halftime.

The Green Hornets took their first lead since opening the game up 2-0, midway through the third quarter at 39-37. After a 3-point play by Jennings to give Central the lead right back, David and Matt Kachelries hit from long range, and Emmaus never trailed again.

“When we went into halftime, we focused on our system,” Matt Kachelries added. “We started switching on screens and stopped them from penetrating, because then they got easy looks on kick outs. We stepped up on defense and then we were able to outscore them.”

The win is not only important for EPC tournament seedings, but it was a revenge game as the Vikings took down the Green Hornets on their home court less than two weeks ago.

“This was a huge game for us, as they beat us first,” stated Matt Kachelries. “It was the last game on this floor for our seniors so we really wanted this one for them. It’s a good way for them to go out.”

After a home game against Parkland, Emmaus closes out the regular season at Whitehall Wednesday before the EPC tournament begins Friday night.