Emory University junior Alex Gulotta scored a team-high 15 points, including nine unanswered over a two minute stretch in the second half, to lead the Eagles to a 69-68 over conference-rival Washington University (Mo.) on Friday night in St. Louis, MO.

The Eagles built an 11-7 lead with 15:43 remaining in the first half, behind a pair of three-point field goals from Gulotta and a third from junior Austin Claunch.  However, the Bears would go on a 26-13 run over the next 11 minutes to build their largest lead of the first half, 33-24 with 4:33 remaining.  Emory would head into the locker room at halftime trailing 39-31.

Washington would open the half with a 10-4 run, building their largest lead of the game, 49-35, with 17:24 left in the contest.  The Eagles, however, would begin to chip away at the Bears’ advantage, scoring 19 of the next 26 points, before taking the lead, 57-56 on a Gulotta three pointer with 6:29 left in the game.  Another Gulotta three just under 40 seconds later extended the Eagles’ lead to four, and a third at the 4:39 mark gave Emory a 63-56 lead, its largest of the game.

Despite a timely three-pointer from Michael Friedberg, and three late free throws from Claunch and Justin Resnick, Washington’s Caleb Knepper hit a three with three seconds left to cut the Emory lead to a point.  However, the Eagles were able to inbound the ball successfully and run out the clock for the victory.

Gulotta finished the contest with a five-for-ten performance from three-point range.  He extended his streak of consecutive games with a three pointer to 25, matching Kevin Felner (11/21/92 – 2/27/93) for the fourth-longest streak in the program’s history.  As a team, Emory finished the game shooting 12 for 31 from long distance for 38.7%, marking the team’s sixth game this season with 10 or more three pointers.

Claunch chipped in 13 points for Emory to go along with a team-best nine assists and seven rebounds, while freshman Jake Davis added seven rebounds and 10 points off the bench.  Friedberg (12 points) and sophomore Alex Greven (10 points) each provided double-digit scoring efforts for Emory as well.

Washington’s Dylan Richter finished the contest with a game-high 25 points, including 17 points and six rebounds in the first half.

With the win, Emory improved its record to 10-3, including a 1-1 mark in University Athletic Association (UAA) games.  Washington University dropped to 6-7, including a 0-2 UAA ledger.  It was the first win for Emory over Washington in the last 10 meetings between the two teams.

Emory will return to action on Sunday at 1:00 PM, wrapping up a three-game conference road trip at the University of Chicago.