Emmaus hands Bangor its first loss in boys basketball, 54-44

FROM KEITH GROLLER

Emmaus' tenacious man-to-man defense hounded Bangor into 4-for-30 shooting from 3-point range and held the Slaters to just 15 second-half points in an impressive 54-44 nonleague victory on Saturday night.

It was Bangor's first loss after eight straight wins, while Emmaus (8-2) won its second big game in as many nights.

The Green Hornets trailed 29-25 at halftime, but outscored their hosts 17-4 in the third period when Greg Bobal scored nine of his game-high 15 points.

Bangor made just 2 of 11 shot and had five turnovers in the third period, and scuffled through more cold shooting -- 4-for-17 in the final stanza.

The Slaters, who average 72.6 points per game, never got closer than seven in the fourth quarter.

"It was a tough shooting night and we didn't execute," Bangor coach Bron Holland said. "But 90 percent of that had to do with them. Their defense took us out of everything we wanted to do. We were able to get some things in transition in the first half, but they really stepped up their defense in the third quarter. We forced shots and came unglued a little bit."

Bangor standout Andy Mulitsch, who averages 18.5 points per game, was held to 11 and scuffled through a 5-for-20 shooting night.

Matt Carey led Bangor with 13, but had just two in the second half.

Emmaus placed three players in double figures with Steve Gigler (11) and Ryan Fatzinger (10) joining Bobal.

The Green Hornets will get another shot at knocking off an unbeaten team when they travel to Nazareth on Tuesday night.

Bangor, meanwhile, will play four games in six days, beginning with a home game against Salisbury Monday night.

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