Sophomore Romin Williams tied the single-game record for most three-point field goals for the second time this season, finishing with a game-high 28 points, in leading the Emory men's basketball team to a Sunday afternoon win at home over East Texas Baptist University. The Eagles won for the fifth straight time and raised their record to 9-2 following a 95-66 decision over the Tigers who slipped to 5-5.
After seeing a 17-game streak of three-point field goals end on Saturday against Oswego State, Williams bounced back with a scorching performance of eight-of-13 from beyond the arc, tying his total against Keuka College back on Nov. 17. He is just one of three players in Emory history to record eight treys in a contest, joining Alex Gulotta (vs. Guilford, Nov. 20, 2010) and Richard Sommers (vs. LaGrange, Nov. 16, 2001) in that exclusive club. Overall, Williams closed out the game 10-of-19 from the floor in racking up his ninth double-figure scoring effort of the campaign and fifth of 20 or more points. He also topped all players with a season-high tying seven assists and tied for second on the team with seven rebounds.
Aiding in the Emory attack that saw the Eagles generate 90 or more points for the fifth straight and eighth time this year were sophomores Matt Schner and Lawrence Rowley who totaled 17 and 14 points, respectively. Schner converted seven-of-11 field goal tries, including three triples, while Rowley went six-of-13 from the floor and two-of-two from the stripe.
Emory set the tone early, using a 12-2 spurt, with Williams scoring five points in that stretch, to stake itself to a 14-4 advantage. The Tigers did battle back to within two points on two occasions, the last time with 8:05 left in the first half, before triples by Schner and Williams stretched the Eagles' lead to 32-24 with 7:02 left. After a trey by ETBU's Nathan Fontenot cut Emory's lead to three points, Emory closed out final 3:48 of the stanza on an 8-1 spurt to take a 44-34 cushion into the break. Williams and Schner spearheaded the attack with 13 and 12 points, respectively.
The Eagles got out the blocks quickly in the second half, seeing four different players score during a 9-2 blitz that upped the score to 53-36. The Tigers countered with nine unanswered points to creep to within eight, but Emory put up an 11-2 run, started with a three-point play by Rowley and capped by a three pointer by sophomore Clay Washburn, to reclaim a 17-point lead. The Eagles still maintained a 17-point edge before rattling off eight straight points in 41 seconds, the first six coming on a pair of three pointers by Williams and the final two on a tip-in by Rowley, to take a commanding 78-53 lead with 10:04 on the clock. Williams picked up 15 second-half points, connecting on five-of-six from distance. The Eagles sank nine treys over the final 20 minutes of action and outscored the Tigers by a 51-32 count.
For the game, Emory sank 43.2 percent (38-of-88) from the field while holding ETBU to 35.6 percent (26-of-73). The Eagles launched 42 three-point field goals, the second-highest total in school annals, and made 14 (sixth game of 10 or more treys this year) to finish at 33.3 percent compared to the Tigers' 25 percent (8-of-32). Behind Matt Davet's game-high tying 11 boards Emory enjoyed a decided edge in rebounding, pulling down a season-high 60 caroms (tying the school's seventh-highest total) to ETBU's 38. Emory pounded out 23 offensive rebounds which helped lead to a 30-6 bulge in second-chance points.
The Eagles return to action on Saturday (Jan. 5) when they open University Athletic Association play at No. 17-ranked Rochester.