The Great Resilient Eight

In the midst of a world-wide pandemic, college basketball around the country would resume with modifications in hopes of creating as much as possible, a sense of normalcy for student athletes. For the Emmaus Men's Basketball team, normalcy was not quite what they received. Starting in the Fall semester with an exciting 20 young men on a roster filled with talent and mission fit mindsets to honor Christ and advance his kingdom, they would play one exhibition game before going into a 14-day quarantine. This would be followed with only 1 practice and then full steam ahead into 5 games with very few practices in-between and then back into another 14-day quarantine. The Eagles would go into Christmas break 0-5, mentally and emotionally fatigued and discouraged.

January 2021, although thankful for fresh beginnings, the Emmaus Men would begin by only returning 6 players from first semester plus an additional 2 in Tashar McCray and Austin Brammer.  "To be honest, I was pretty bummed going into Christmas knowing we were losing so many guys." Coach Graw shared while discussing his thoughts returning from break, "I really felt we had some pretty awesome mission fit ball players on that team that were in the process of learning how to play with each other. I expected to have a second semester that was going to shock the world. We knew in this foundational year that the most important thing we had to do was establish a Christ centered winning culture. I had no idea that the Lord had this in mind and I sure didn't envision this scenario. But what happened, happened and I'm just thankful for guys like Tashar McCray and Austin Brammer who showed up and believed in what we were trying to accomplish."

Although short handed with only 8 on the roster, the Eagles would show much improvement second semester as they competed in almost every game including 10 games in which they would lose by under 10 and typically in the final 2 minutes. Though the men would finish the season with 3 wins and 21 losses, Coach Graw was excited about their improvement. "I knew something was special by how this group would move the ball in practice and maximize their strengths while delegating their weaknesses. There were no agendas, just a group of guys that allowed coaching and wanted to buy in and believe in the type of culture we wanted to create in this foundational year."

The Emmaus Men's Basketball program is built on the foundation of 5 pillars: Self-Awareness, Ownership, Integrity, Accountability, and Loyalty. Their purpose for playing is to show the glory of Jesus through their unity as a team so that Christ will be glorified and that his kingdom would be advance through the preaching of the Gospel. And no matter the out come of the game, they praise Jesus and continue to focus on the process and they cling to Galatians 6:9 throughout the adversity of losing so many games so close in the final minutes. "This team was truly something special." Continued Coach Graw, "I've never seen anything like it in my 27 years of being involved with competitive basketball. To lose so many games by such a little margin in the closing minutes of games, most players in todays culture would throw their teammates and coaches under the bus after 1 loss like that. But these guys didn't do that after 10 of them! I just couldn't be proud of these young men and their resilience that is saturated with the word of Galatians 6:9, "⁹ Let us not get tired of doing good, for we will reap at the proper time if we don't give up." This is the culture that we wanted to establish and we couldn't be more blessed for the Lords covering in this."

There were a handful of highlights over the course of the basketball season for the Men. This would include their first win of the season on February 11^th, 2021 against an NAIA opponent in Lincoln Christian University by the final score of 79-66. Tyrus "Big Time" Buckner led with 36 points and 15 rebounds while Steven Petkau chipped in 19 points, 7 rebounds, and 6 assists. Their second win would come on February 19^th, 2021 against Calvary University with the final score of 90 to 81. Bucker would lead again with 39 points, 16 rebounds, and 5 assists. "Fireman" Nick Fairley would go 6/10 from three and finish is 27 points. The eagles would earn their third win by upsetting number 2 seeded Faith Baptist in the opening round of the NCCAA North Regional Tournament by the final score of 85-73. Buckner again would lead with 26 points and 21 rebounds while Nick Fairley put on his fireman hat and went to work going 6/9 from three and finishing with 23 points. The season would end in the second round as the Men of Emmaus would lose 74-75 on a step back 3 by Calvary University's All American and senior guard Ques Harris. "This was a tough loss for us, being up 5 with about a minute to go and losing by one on a shot like that. While we are proud of how we competed, we know that this is just the beginning. We will be back to shock the world you can count on that." -Coach Graw

Interested in competing with the Eagles in 2021-22?  Fill out an Eagles Recruiting Form to begin the conversation.

Emmaus is a fully-accredited four-year college offering more than 20 professional and ministry-related degrees. Our athletic teams compete in the NCCAA Division II and the Midwest Christian College Conference. 

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