Emory Men's Basketball Wins Shootout At Wash U

Emory Men's Basketball Wins Shootout At Wash U

Sophomore Matt Davet scored 20 of his career-high tying 25 points in the second half, and the Emory men's basketball came through with a big effort down the stretch in posting a Friday evening win at Washington University.  The Eagles upped their overall record to 10-3, 1-1 in the University Athletic Association following a 108-98 decision over the Bears who fell to 7-6 overall, 0-2 in the league.

Davet ended the contest seven-of-15 from the floor, including three-of-eight from three-point range, and eight-of-10 from the foul line in chalking up his 11th double-figure effort of the campaign and fifth of 20 or more points.  Davet was one of five double-digit scorers for the Eagles who cracked the century mark in scoring for the third time this year.  Sophomores Romin Williams and Matt Schner each contributed 15 points while classmates Lawrence Rowley and Nick Stuck each tallied 14 points, with Stuck's effort representing a career best.

In a back-and-forth second half that saw 11 lead changes, the Eagles trailed by an 87-84 margin with seven minutes remaining after the Bears' DeVaughn Rucker sank a pair of free throws that closed out a 22-11 Bears' spurt over a 6:30 stretch that erased an eight-point Emory lead.  A bucket by Davet cut the deficit to one point before a triple by Williams with 5:38 remaining gave Emory the lead for good at 89-87.  After a Bears miss on their next possession, the Eagles capped a 7-0 run when Schner scored off a nice feed from Williams, pushing them ahead by four points.  After a pair of WU charity tosses cut Emory's advantage to one point, the Eagles went on a 5-0 spurt, with Davet hitting three free throws and Schner knocking down a jumper in that run, to extend to a 98-91 edge with 3:02 on the clock.  The closest WU would get from there would be five points as Emory was able to keep the hosts at bay by hitting seven-of-eight free throws over the final 1:10 of the game.

Emory was successful on 51.3 percent from the floor (fourth time this season it converted 50 percent or better), knocking down 39-of-76 field goal attempts while the Bears posted an effort of 44.9 percent (31-of-69).  The Bears did drain 50 percent (10-of-20) of their three-point opportunities compared to Emory's 30 percent (9-of-30), but the Eagles registered a 47-36 margin in rebounding and made the most of depth by finishing with a 32-12 bulge in bench points.  Emory's 108 points represented the second-high point total against a Wash U team in the 63-game history of the series.  On Valentine's Day in 1993, the Eagles registered 111 points against the Bears.

Offense was in abundant supply during an entertaining opening 20 minutes with Emory taking a 53-51 lead into the break.  The Eagles trailed by a 35-24 margin with 9:07 left in the frame, but rattled off 11 straight points, five coming from Schner and the final four by Williams, over a 1:40 stretch that knotted the score at 35-35 with 7:02 on the clock.  A three-pointer by Jack Nolan put WU ahead, 51-49 with 1:50 left but back-to-back buckets by senior Beau Bommarito closed out the scoring for the half.  The Eagles, who were paced by Williams' 12 points, connected on 51.1 percent (24-of-47) from the floor, though they converted just 28.6 percent (4-of-14) from beyond the arc.  WU hit 47.4 percent (18-of-38) of its field goal tries, including 58.3 percent (7-of-12) from distance.

The Eagles return to action on Sunday afternoon when they play at Chicago (9-4, 2-0 UAA).