The Emory men's basketball team opened a road weekend of University Athletic Association action with a Friday evening setback at Washington University. The Eagles dropped their third straight contest and saw their overall record slip to 14-7, 5-5 in league play, following a 94-65 defeat at the hands of the No. 5-ranked Bears who boosted their overall mark to 18-3, 10-0 in the conference.
Senior Austin DaGue topped the Emory scoring effort, coming off the bench to notch a season-high 16 points, hitting six-of-11 from the floor, including a pair of three-pointers, and both of his free throw attempts. Junior Christopher Avant finished with 13 points, converting six-of-nine field goal attempts, en route to registering his 14th double-figure effort of the season. Avant also led the club with six rebounds. Sophomore Gebereal Baitey added nine points.
Wash U outscored Emory, 53-26, over the final 20 minutes, hitting 56.3 percent (18 of 32) from the floor while the Eagles connected on just 33.3 percent (11 of 33). For the game, the Bears recorded a decisive 49-31 advantage in rebounding, and were solid at the charity stripe, draining 22-of-25 opportunities compared to Emory's four makes in seven tries.
Wash U scored the first eight points of the second half, enabling it post a 49-39 lead. DaGue then accounted for the Eagles opening two baskets of the stanza, with his last one cutting the deficit to eight points. The Bears answered with seven unanswered points, the final five coming from Andrew Sanders, boosting their cushion to 15 points with 15:40 remaining. A three pointer by DaGue, stemmed the tide, but a subsequent 18-4 Wash U burst that saw Kevin Kucera and Matt Highsmith each total five points, jumped the hosts to a 76-50 lead with 9:12 on the clock. Sanders led all players with 21 points while Highsmith chipped in 13 points.
For the game, Emory hit on 39.7 percent (27 of 68) of its field goal attempts while Wash U was successful on 49.3 percent (33 of 67).
In a fast-paced opening half, both teams employed big runs that resulted in Wash U holding a 41-39 edge at the break. After a basket by Baitey put Emory ahead, 11-10, the Bears countered with a 15-2 spree, which saw Clinton Hooks knock down a pair of threes, giving the home squad a 25-13 cushion with 9:33 left. The Eagles quickly regrouped and rattled off a 12-2 charge, with DaGue and Avant sinking three-pointers in that run, to cut the WU lead to 27-25. Trailing by five points, back-to-back buckets by Avant and DaGue, drew Emory to within one point with 5:08 remaining, but seven unanswered points by WU upped its margin to 39-31 with 2:59 on the clock. Emory closed out the half outpointing the Bears by an 8-2 count, which saw Whit Rapp and Jim Gordon convert from beyond the arc. DaGue tallied nine points to pace the Emory attack while Gordon contributed eight points. The Eagles were successful on 45.7 percent (16 of 35) from the floor to WU's 42.9 percent (15 of 35).
Emory returns to action on Sunday when it plays at the University of Chicago.