The Eastern Pennsylvania Conference postseason tournament has not been kind to the Emmaus boys basketball team the last few years. Two seasons ago, the Green Hornets were the top overall seed and were upset at home against eighth-seeded East Stroudsburg North. Last season Emmaus did not qualify for the tournament, falling just short.

But the No. 2 seed Hornets opened this year’s league tournament with a win. Emmaus (19-4 overall) used strong second and fourth quarter performances to exhaust the recent demons of the EPC postseason and take care of seventh-seeded Central Catholic 58-42 last Friday night in the quarterfinal round at Emmaus High School.

“It feels amazing to be able to win this game tonight,” said Hornet senior forward Zach Sabol. “Especially being a senior and being able to help bring our team to our first conference playoff win since my freshman year is special. Words can’t really describe it and the energy in this building from the fans was incredible.”

Sabol finished with 13 points and 14 rebounds, two of his points, the final two of the night, propelled him to the 1,000-career point milestone. He became just the ninth player in school history, third in the last four years, to reach the feat. And it happened with just 4:01 remaining in the game.

“It was really a surreal moment that I was happy to have it done at home,” Sabol said. “All credit is to my teammates for continuously setting me up with good passes. David and Matt [Kachelries], who did this before me, really set the standard and I was glad to be able to keep it going.”

The Hornets won both meetings with the Vikings (15-8) during the regular season, the last one coming on a buzzer-beater the week prior. Once again, it was a close battle, one that Emmaus eventually made more comfortable in the fourth quarter after Sabol got the milestone out of the way.

“We moved the ball and shared it well I thought,” said Sabol. “We had a great assist-to-turnover ratio and protected the ball. Our chemistry really showed and helped us have a great game offensively.”

Emmaus led just 11-9 after the opening quarter, but went ahead by double-digits, leading 27-17 at halftime. The Hornets went ahead by as much as 14 in the third quarter, but Central still fought back to within 48-42 with two minutes left. Emmaus used the energy from the crowd and its defensive efforts to stymie the Vikings over the final stretch.

Senior Mark Swedberg led the team with 15 points, eight rebounds and two blocks. Classmate Bryce Diehl tallied 12 points.

Emmaus will now take on the sixth seed Allen Wednesday at 6 p.m. at Parkland High School. Top seed Bethlehem Catholic and fourth-seeded Nazareth are in the other semifinal.