Senior Adam Gigax led five double-figure scorers with 17 points in helping the Emory men's basketball team to a Wednesday evening win at home over Covenant College. The Eagles raised their record to 5-2 following an 80-73 victory over the Scots who slipped to 3-3.
Gigax finished the contest six-of-13 from the floor, including three-of-seven from beyond the arc, in notching his seventh double-figure scoring effort of the campaign. Freshman Romin Williams totaled 15 points while junior Gebereal Baitey and senior Christopher Avant each contributed 12 points. Avant also had a monster game on the glass, pulling down a career-high 17 boards, 10 in the second half, with that mark tying the ninth-highest game total in school history. Freshman Matt Davet came off the bench to round out the team's double-figure scorers with 10 points.
The Scots opened the final 20 minutes of action on a 6-0 spurt that erased a five-point Emory lead and provided them a 40-39 advantage. The Eagles responded with a 12-1 barrage, the last five points coming from Davet, to lay claim to a 51-41 bulge with 13:31 left in the game. Later on in the stanza, nine unanswered points, five of which came from Avant and three from Williams via a trey, gave Emory its largest lead of the contest, 60-44, with 9:22 remaining. Back-to-back three-pointers by the Scots' James Mitchell, who would lead all players with 18 points, cut their deficit to nine points with 7:53 on the clock, but Emory still held a 12-point margin with 4:19 left following a tip-in by Avant. Covenant used back-to-back triples by Berto Dryden as part of an 8-0 spree over a 54-second stretch to claw back into the game, down 71-64 with 3:10 on the clock. A layup by Williams stretched Emory to a 77-69 advantage, but four straight points by Covenant kept its hopes alive, trailing by a 77-73 count with 18 ticks on the clock. A pair of charity tosses by Gigax with 10 seconds left gave the Eagles a six-point edge and sealed the outcome.
Emory finished with a 48.4 percent (30-62) effort from the floor while Covenant hit on 40.6 percent (26-64) of its attempts. The Eagles sank eight-of-20 three-point field goals while the Scots drained 11 of their 33 attempts. Emory registered a decisive 47-33 edge in rebounding.
Behind 13 points from Gigax and eight by Baitey, the Eagles went into halftime with a 39-34 lead. Gigax knocked down five-of-six field goal attempts, including all three triple tries, while Baitey was successful on three field goals in five opportunities along with a two-for-two showing at the stripe. Emory got out of the blocks quickly, sinking six of its first eight field goal attempts in racing to a 15-6 advantage just five minutes into the contest. The Scots countered with a 10-2 spurt, capped off by a bucket by Mitchell Hollis, to creep to within 17-16. A three-pointer by Williams gave the Eagles a four-point lead, but Covenant would fight back to claim a one-point margin, 25-24, after a bucket by Nick Palmer. Holding a one-point edge, the Eagles went on an 8-2 spurt, highlighted by three pointers by junior Beau Bommarito and Gigax to move to a 38-31 cushion with just under three minutes left in the stanza. Emory shot 57.5 percent (15-26) during the opening 20 minutes of action compared to the Scots' mark of 38.2 percent (13-34). Emory enjoyed a 24-12 edge on the glass with senior Christopher Avant pulling down seven boards.
Emory returns to action on Saturday (Dec. 16) when it hosts Guilford College in a 2:00 pm start.