Head coach Steve Yoder’s game plan was simple: slow down the pace of the game to keep the ball in the hands of his offense and out of Parkland’s.

Emmaus slowed down the tempo, but could not slow down the top-seeded Trojans enough. Parkland struggled to find a rhythm, but ultimately found a way to beat the Green Hornets for the third time this year 44-36 in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference semifinals last Wednesday night at Liberty High School.

After losing those two previous games to the Trojans, each game closer than the last, Yoder felt like his team needed to switch a few things up and go against the norm of Emmaus basketball.

“What we did tonight went against every fiber in our system,” Yoder said. “We like to get up and down the floor and score in the 70s and 80s. Tonight we decided to take the air out of the ball and the kids owned it.

“It was a two-possession game with two minutes left. We make a couple of layups that we normally make and it’s a different game.”

Parkland (22-3 overall) clearly did not know how to adjust properly for much of the game. The Trojans were held to well under their 70.3-points-per-game scoring average, limiting them to their second-lowest total of the season.

Even though the Green Hornets held the Trojans to a poor shooting night, they did not help themselves out the way they wanted to.

Emmaus (17-7 overall) converted on just 36 percent of its shots from the floor (15 of 42) and just 21 percent from beyond the arc (3 of 14). The Hornets also missed a number of layups.

For the first time all season, Emmaus failed to have a player reach double figures as senior reserve Brandon Rapose led the team with nine points. The top three scorers - David and Matt Kachelries along with Joey Polczynski, who account for nearly 42 points per game on average, were limited to just 13 points combined.

“We made some shots, but we missed more, and that’s what hurt us,” said Yoder. “We’re a high-scoring team, and maybe due to the game plan of slowing it down and not taking as many shots, it hurt our percentage. But there were some shots we missed that we normally make, and we have to do better. We missed five layups in the first half. When you do that against Parkland, it’s going to be tough to win the game.”

It was a low-scoring, back-and-forth first half that featured 11 lead changes. Parkland then seemed to take control of the game just before halftime, scoring the last four points of the half and going on a run to take a double digit lead at 36-26 at the end of the third.

The Green Hornets cut the deficit to five twice in the fourth quarter, but had just three field goals over that eight-minute span.

Emmaus has 10 days off until its next game, a District 11 4A quarterfinal matchup Saturday night against EPC runner-up Allen at 6pm at Freedom High School.