With the announcement coming midway through Whitehall’s game versus Emmaus last Wednesday that schools would be closed the next day, the two teams treated the packed gym to a little extra basketball for the final game of the regular season.

The game went into overtime after Whitehall struggled to ice the game at the free throw line, a problem that plagued them the entire contest as they went 9-for-18 from the charity stripe to give the visiting Hornets the opening they needed, dousing the Zephyrs hope for a season split as they won 82-77 in an EPC thriller.

It also didn’t help that the Kachelries twins combined for 55 points, hitting eights threes in the process. However, it wasn’t a long range jumper by the talented duo that doomed the Zephs late in overtime; it was a stolen inbounds pass that Matt Kachelries turned into a layup that gave the Hornets a three-point lead which opened the door to the eventual win.

Head coach Jeff Jones said that a number of elements led to their downfall. It wasn’t just one thing.

“There’s a hundred plays in a game, especially at the pace that they [his players] play, and that we’re comfortable at playing,” said Jones. “So it never comes down to a play or two, but certainly those are magnified at the end of a game.”

Whitehall got into the driver’s seat after overcoming some first half woes, especially during the first quarter when the Hornets went on a 10-0 run, with Josh Artis and Zach Sabol doing damage inside, while David Kachelries threw down a dunk after a turnover to put them up by double digits. Kayden Walschburger’s trey cut it to seven, but once again the Zephs had to fight from behind.

Trailing by seven after the first period, and then cutting it to four at the break, Whitehall finally overtook the Hornets late in the third quarter when Charles Hudson found a leaking Logan McGinley for a layup, giving the Zephs the 51-49 lead.

From that point, the game seesawed the rest of the way until it appeared that Whitehall wrestled control after Mikey Esquilin had converted two free throws to give them a 70-66 lead with about 30 seconds to go. They were also buoyed by David Kachleries fifth personal foul, sending him to the bench the rest of the game. But with the Zephs woes at the line persisted, twice missing the front ends of their one-and-one attempts, allowing the Hornets to score the game-tying buckets.

In the overtime, Walschburger gave them a brief lead after converting three free throws after getting fouled from beyond the arc. It was 75-74 with 1:51 left in OT. But that errant inbounds turned into the backbreaking basket as Matt Kachelries’ timely bucket paved the way for the win.

“It was a hard fought game,” said Esquilin who finished with a team-high 16 points. “We knew it was going to be an up-and-down game the whole game, that’s what we were expecting. We both played hard, it was just that their shots fell more than ours did.

“I missed a lot of free throws; I could have made some more. I’m kind of disappointed in myself. I played hard and did what I had to do.”

Hudson was once again solid at both ends of the floor, creating turnovers on defense and sinking shots on offense. He finished with 12 points. McKinley put his stamp on the game as well, finishing with 15 points, while Walschburger dropped in 11. Both Zach Gilbert and Kasai Harrison finished with eight, while Devin Martinez added four.

“That’s a really good team, one of the best teams in the state of Pennsylvania in my opinion,” said Jones. “If nothing else, we told the kids that just shows you what you’re capable of doing, which is what we believed all year.”

Once again the Zephs had to guard bigger frontcourt players with Artis and Sabol making it difficult for the Zephyrs to grab rebounds. Still, they were able to put themselves in position to win despite giving up multiple second-chance shots.

“Our guys battled as well as they could have,” said Jones. “We just came up a little bit short tonight.”