A year ago Jayden Thomas was unable to play in the East Penn Conference title game. An injury just before the season kept Thomas off the court his junior year.

This year Thomas didn’t just play in the EPC title game, he took it over in the fourth quarter and led his team to the title. The senior scored 17 of his game-high 30 points in the final eight minutes as Parkland pulled away from Emmaus for a 59-45 win.

“I put in a lot of work to get to where I am today,” said Thomas. “A lot of physical therapy. A lot of hours in the gym. It means everything to me [to win the league title].”

Thomas was name tournament MVP for his performance.

“He worked his tail off all summer, all preseason,” said Parkland head coach Eddie Ohlson. “We pushed him past his comfort level so he could get here. We knew what his potential was. Just really happy and excited for him. He deserves every ounce of recognition right now.”

The win marked Parkland’s third win of the season over Emmaus.

Emmaus (19-6) led by two points at halftime and was ahead 25-21 after a Will Barber basket to start the fourth quarter. But that lead didn’t last long.

Two baskets from Zaire Smaltz tied the game. Thomas put his team in front with a three-pointer, then stretched the lead to 31-27 on a three-point play with 4:23 left in the third quarter. Parkland (20-5) never relinquished the lead after that.

“I thought we had some good opportunities in the first half that didn’t fall,” said Ohlson. “At halftime we just said we have to trust those looks and trust each other. I thought they did a really good job in the second half doing that.”

Thomas took over in the fourth quarter when he scored his team’s first 11 points of the period and 17 of its 20 in the quarter.

“On the way out after halftime,” said Emmaus head coach Steve Yoder, “I said to the staff ‘what should we expect as far as adjustments.’ We thought they’d probably try to get Zaire going a little bit, and they did. All of us in the locker room kind of owned that we thought they raised their level and we just didn’t raise it enough.

“[Thomas] was absolutely fantastic. When we had to extend our pressure he went by us, finished, made his free throws. He was really great tonight. He carried them to the chip in a lot of ways, especially with Coval not having his typical night. Thomas stepped up.”

Nick Coval, the Trojans’ leading scorer and the league’s MVP, scored 18 points in the game with 11 of them coming at the free throw line.

Parkland moves on to District 11 Class 6A playoffs as the top seed. After a quarterfinal bye, the Trojans will return to the court for semifinals on Feb. 28 against either No. 4 Northampton or No. 5 Stroudsburg.