Randolph-Macon Hands Emory Men's Basketball First Loss Of The Season

Randolph-Macon Hands Emory Men's Basketball First Loss Of The Season

Sophomore Lawrence Rowley led four double-figure scorers with 19 points and pulled down a club-high eight rebounds, but it wasn't enough as the Emory men's basketball team suffered its first loss of the season in five outings on Sunday afternoon.  In a match-up of a pair of South Region foes, Randolph-Macon raised its record to 7-0 after shooting its way to a 94-74 decision over the Eagles at the Woodruff PE Center on the Emory campus. 

Rowley ended the afternoon five-of-seven from the floor while sinking all nine of his free throw attempts en route to his fifth double-figure scoring performance of the campaign and second-highest total of his career.  Matt Schner and Matt Davet each totaled 15 points, with Schner successful on five field goals in seven opportunities which included three of Emory's five three-pointers.  Romin Williams rounded out the quartet with 14 points.

After trailing by as many as 15 points during the opening half, a triple by Schner to open the second stanza drew the Eagles to within two points.  Emory trailed by a three-point margin after a bucket by Williams before six unanswered R-MC points boosted the visitors to a nine point edge, 60-51, with 15:39 remaining in the contest.  Facing a 64-56 deficit with 14:00 on the clock after a free throw by Nick Stuck, the Eagles misfired on six straight field goal tries and turned the ball over twice over a four-minute stretch that saw the Yellow Jackets go on a 10-0 scoring spree that ballooned their lead to 74-56 with 9:40 left.  Emory made a run, scoring 10 of the game's next 13 points, with Rowley scoring four and Davet and Schner three apiece, to creep back to within 11 points with 7:27 remaining.  However, a 9-2 R-MC scoring run over a 2:48 span, raised its cushion back to 18 points, 88-70, with a little more than more four minutes on the clock.  

Randolph-Macon shot an opponent season-high 55 percent (33-of-60) from the floor, including 46.4 percent (13-of-28) from three-point range.  The Yellow Jackets converted 75 percent (15-of-20) from the stripe and enjoyed a 34-29 edge in rebounding.  Leading the scoring effort for the visitors were the trio of Buzz Anthony, Darryl Williams and Ian Robertson, all of whom scored 15 points.  Williams also dished out six assists while Anthony came up with four steals.   Emory shot 42.9 percent (24-of-56) from the floor but had trouble finding the mark from distance, hitting just five-of-21 from beyond the arc.

Randolph-Macon got out of the blocks quickly, knocking down 12 of its first 15 field goal attempts, including five-of-six from beyond the arc, in posting a 29-14 lead with 11:56 left in the first half.  After the Eagles fought back with a 12-5 spurt, highlighted by Schner and Williams knocking down three pointers, to cut the deficit to eight points, the Yellow Jackets used triples by Luke Neeley and Corey Bays to go up by a 40-26 count with 6:23 on the clock.  Emory closed out the rest of the frame with a 16-7 scoring edge that drew it to within five points at the break, taking advantage of R-MC making just two of its last nine tries from the field in that stretch.  Davet scored six of his 10 first-half points in that run while Rowley totaled four of his 11 opening-half points.   Emory was successful on 53.6 percent (15-of-28) of its field goal opportunities while Randolph-Macon knocked down 60 percent (18-of-30).  The Yellow Jackets drained nine treys in 15 attempts compared to the Eagles' showing of 4-of-13.

Emory returns to action on Wednesday (Nov. 28) evening when it plays at the University of the South.