Discipline, Patience, and Trust

Mundelin, IL - On Tuesday, January 13^th, our men's basketball team traveled down to Mundelin, Illinois to face off against Dayspring Bible College. Riding a 2 game win streak, the players and coaches were ready and confident.

As warm-ups were ending, the Eagles echoed loudly in the gym and went into the game fired up. Running the offense very well, Emmaus was unable to knock down wide open shots. However, their defense stood tall and for about 4 minutes, the score stood at 8-6. It was then that the Eagles started to get into foul trouble with several questionable calls, forcing the coaches to go to the bench earlier than expected. This, coupled with lack of patience on the offensive end, pulled Emmaus away from their game plan. As the first half was winding down, the play got much more physical on Dayspring's part, getting in the heads of the players on the Eagle's side. Despite all of this, Emmaus went into the locker room at half hanging to a 29-27 lead.

Coach Wilkerson and Coach Smith encouraged the guys that despite the calls and physical play, if the team just stuck to the game plan and showed discipline, they should still win the game. They also expressed that they were proud that the Eagles were not letting the atmosphere dictate how they would respond and that character was just as important as winning the game.

The second half continued in the same vein and, despite the encouragement from the coaches, Emmaus never got back into a rhythm offensively. They gave up too many offensive rebounds to an undersized Dayspring team. The score went back and forth with both teams taking the lead several times, until the Eagles got a stop and starting push up court. It was then that Trevor Donnelly was called for a judgment foul and was assessed his 5^th foul of the game. This added to the frustration of both the players and the coaching staff and they watched as Dayspring went ahead by 6. In the closing minutes, sophomore Austin Nuce, one of the team's best shooters, came out of his slump and knocked down some very difficult and important three pointers to bring the Eagles back to 3. However, Emmaus was unable to push ahead and the game ended with the final score 69-65.

Coach Wilkerson had this to say about the game: "There are things that are out of our control, such as officiating and the play of the other team. However, the things that we are in control of are what we need to be concerned about. Our team is good enough that if we show discipline, patience, and trust in teammates, we can play with anyone. I am proud of how our team showed character and did not respond negatively to a game of frustration. Their character was very much on display tonight. They went out and showed the fans, coaches, players, and officials that Christ is very present in their lives."

Caleb Ruter finished with a game high 28 points while Austin Nuce had his highest scoring game of the season with 13.

The Emmaus men travel to St. Louis Christian on Friday at 7:00 before returning home to host Faith Baptist Bible College on Saturday at 4:00.