Two weekends ago at the Stellar Catch A Rising Star Showcase tournament, the Emmaus boys varsity team struggled and suffered one of its quickest exits from the tournament in recent years. The Hornets lost their only two games of the double-elimination tournament.

But last weekend, in the second premier tournament of the summer, the Green Hornets had a much better showing.

Emmaus won all three games in the group stage, but fell in the Sweet 16 on Sunday morning, finishing 3-1 at the Sportsfest A-town Throwdown at Cedar Beach Park.

“I thought it was a huge weekend for us to bounce back the way we did, especially for the younger kids,” said Hornet head coach Steve Yoder. “We were six seconds away from losing four games in a row at the buzzer or in over time (counting the final summer league game, the two at Stellar, and the opening game at Sportsfest). I thought that Saucon win proved vital for us confidence wise. Because then Saturday we played great, winning both games big.

“I thought without some of our seniors again, the young kids stepped up and it was great to see this weekend.”

Opening night of the tournament for the Green Hornets could have been a bad omen, or the start of the something good. Luckily for them, it was the latter.

Trailing by one with six seconds left, Yoder called a timeout, and called upon one of his seniors who hadn’t played in a few weeks because of legion baseball. But Eric Cichocki took the ball the length of the floor, and scored at the buzzer, giving Emmaus a 46-45 victory over Saucon Valley. Zack Sabol led the way with 11 points in the game.

From there the Hornets’ confidence grew. They won both of their games Saturday, 43-34 against Daniel Boone and 48-23 over North Hunterdon to win the group and reach the Sweet 16 playoff round Sunday.

Against District 3’s Central Dauphin East, however, the Green Hornets this time came up just short at the buzzer, as a jumper fell off the rim in a 40-39 defeat.

“When you play teams like that, one of two things happen,” said Yoder. “You are either able to control and dictate the tempo at the pace you want, or you get nuts and you let them do it. And that’s really what the game was about.

“There were times where we shot quickly and then spent the whole time on defense, and that’s what they wanted. But then there were times where we kept the ball and worked for good shots, and it worked in our favor. It was a game that just flew by back-and-forth and it was a great game. We had our chances, and I am disappointed to lose, but we played great.”

The Emmaus boys JV team, which came off a Stellar tournament championship, also finished its group stage 3-0, but also dropped the opening playoff game to Whitehall 42-33 Sunday afternoon. Mark Swedberg led the team in scoring in two of the three wins.