The Emory men's basketball team closed out a weekend of conference play on Sunday with a loss to Washington University.  The No. 2-ranked Bears won their 10^th straight game and raised their overall record to 18-2, 9-0 in the University Athletic Association, following an 82-69 decision over the No. 15 Eagles who slipped to 16-4 in overall action, 7-2 in the league.

Wash U used a strong second-half in coming away with the win, outscoring Emory by a 45-31 margin over the final 20 minutes of action.  The Bears connected on 59 percent (13-22) of their field goal attempts in the second half while the Eagles converted just 33.3 percent (13-39) of their opportunities.  Emory went cold from three-point range in the second stanza, connecting on just two of 20 attempts.  The Bears also finished with a decided edge in free throw shooting in the final half, sinking 16-off-22 opportunities compared to Emory's mark of three-of-five.

Freshman Matt Davet led Emory in scoring for the second time this year, totaling 13 points on five-of-10 field goal shooting, including three-of-seven from three-point range.  Davet's performance represented his eighth double-figure scoring effort of the season.  Senior Whit Rapp and freshman Romin Williams each contributed a dozen points to the cause, while junior Gebereal Baitey rounded out the squad's double-digit scorers with 10 points.

Wash U opened the second half on a 13-5 run that erased a one-point Emory advantage and giving it a 50-43 lead with 16:02 left in the contest.  The Eagles closed to within four points with 10:32 remaining after a Williams three-point play, but a 12-2 Wash U spurt, started by a three-pointer by Kevin Kucera and aided by seven-of-eight free throw shooting, extended its cushion to 68-54 with 6:35 remaining.  The closest Emory would get from that stage was 11points with 5:25 on the clock.

Emory concluded the game shooting 38 percent (27-71) from the floor while WU was successful on 57.1 percent (24-42), the high-water mark by an Emory opponent this year. The Eagles were a season-low 23.5 percent from distance and were outrebounded by a 42-31 margin (Rapp led the Eagles with 10 rebounds).  Wash U recorded a big edge in free throw shooting, hitting 29-of-42 from the stripe (opponent season highs in both makes and attempts) compared to Emory's showing of seven-of-10.   Kucera led Wash U in scoring with 19 points while David Schmelter finished with 17 points and a game-high 16 boards.

In the first half, Emory trailed by a 22-19 count before five straight points by Davet, the final three coming via a trey, pushed Emory to a 24-22 edge with 7:29 on the clock. The Bears responded with a 7-0 charge, with five of those points coming at the charity stripe, to claim a 29-24 lead.  After another triple by Davet, cut Emory's deficit to two points, WU scored four straight points to move ahead by a 33-27 count with 3:28 remaining.  The Eagles then closed the half on an 11-4 flurry to take a 38-37 lead into the break. Rapp started things off with a three-pointer before Adam Gigax knotted the score shortly after with a trey. After bucket by Schmelter gave the hosts a two-point lead, Rapp scored the game's next five points, started by a three-pointer to push the Eagles to a 38-35 advantage with 1:03 on the clock.  Rapp paced the Emory first-half scoring effort with 10 points, hitting three-of-five from the floor, including a pair from distance, and two free throws.  Davet added eight points for Emory, who closed out the opening 20 minutes shooting 43.8 percent (14-32) from the floor, including 42.9 percent (6-14) from three-point range.  Wash U connected on 55 percent (11-20) from the floor and sank 13-of-20 from the charity stripe.  Schmelter led the Bears with 12 points.

Emory returns to action on Friday (Feb. 9) when it plays Carnegie Mellon in a scheduled 8:00 pm tip.