Discipline and Teamwork

Joplin, MO - The men's team faced a tough opponent Thursday night in Hillsdale Baptist. After a great win on Wednesday against Welch College, both players and coaches knew they would have to play a perfect game against Hillsdale and even then, nothing would be guaranteed. Across the board, Emmaus was just not as athletic, but the coaching staff knew that they had a couple of things Hillsdale did not have: discipline and teamwork. 

Coming out in a zone to try and even the field, the Eagles struggled to defend certain areas and allowed some easy baskets early on. However, good passing and getting shots to fall allowed Emmaus to stay close. Putting the clamps on defense, the Eagles tied up the game and then took the lead after Hillsdale looked out of sorts and a bit confused on why this smaller, less athletic team was beating them. Hillsdale called a timeout and the confidence was high for the Eagles. The first half continued back and forth until Caleb Ruter went down with an ankle injury with a little less than 4 minutes to go. Stunned with one of their leaders going down, Emmaus struggled to get anything going and allowed an easy 3 in the corner to enter halftime down 42-31.

The halftime message was clear: Improve the defense and work together. The coaches were proud of how the guys were doing and were impressed that the Eagles were, at times, making Hillsdale look like the lower seed. It was now time to turn up the pressure and make a run.

With Caleb nursing his sprained ankle but wanting to play, Emmaus came out and made a stand on the defense end. They brought the lead down to single digits early in the half and it remained that way for the majority of the rest of the game. With 3 minutes to go and down 8, the Eagles knew they could either stay at the same deficit and probably lose or attempt full court pressure and try to make a run. Everyone knew they had come here to compete for a national championship so the latter option was taken. However, the athleticism of Hillsdale showed and they broke the press, added to their lead, and ended the game as the victor.

In the locker room, Coach Wilkerson acknowledged that this was a difficult loss because he knew the Eagles did not want to lose. However, for most of the game, Emmaus played a top seed as good as anyone and if more shots had fallen, the result could have been different. Both coaches expressed how proud they were of the team and that even though they did not win, they still had a chance to do something special with winning in the next two days. 

The Eagles face off against another strong opponent in Champion Baptist at 4:00. The game will be live streamed on the Emmaus website along with the Lady Eagles game at 12:30.