The Emory men's basketball team saw a four-game win snapped on Friday evening as the University of Chicago posted a win on the Eagles' home court at the Woodruff PE Center. No. 6-ranked Emory fell to 16-3 in overall play, 6-2 in the University Athletic Association, after coming out on the short end of an 84-76 outcome to the Maroons who improved to 8-11 in overall contests, 3-5 in the conference.
Juniors Romin Williams and Lawrence Rowley paced the Emory attack with 14 points apiece. Williams sank four treys in 11 attempts en route to his 17th double-figure scoring effort of the season while Rowley contributed six rebounds and a team-high four assists to the cause. Sophomore Mason Johnson and Matt Davet each finished with 13 points, with Johnson finishing the evening converting six-of-10 from the field, including one triple.
The Eagles held a 64-59 lead with 8:42 left in the game following a three-pointer by Williams, and still maintained a four-point margin with 7:72 on the clock. The Maroons then made the most of the Eagles misfiring on their next six field goal attempts, rattling off a 16-0 run over a four-minute stretch that gave the visitors a 77-65 lead with 3:12 remaining. UC went four-of-four from beyond the arc in that decisive stretch with Cole Schmitz knocking down a pair and Brandon Beckman and Jordan Baum accounting for the other two. Williams scored five straight points that brought Emory to within seven points with 2:00 remaining. Facing a nine-point deficit, Davet sank three from the foul line after getting fouled on a three-point attempt to narrow the gap to six points. After a Chicago turnover on its ensuing possession, two more Davet charity tosses with 56 ticks left sliced the Eagles' obstacle to 80-76. However, those would be Emory's final points on the night as UC hit four free throws over the final 53 seconds to come away with the win.
Chicago posted a 46 percent (29-of-63) mark from the floor compared to Emory's 34.2 percent (25-of-73). Both teams shot 33.3 percent from distance (Emory, 10-of-30, Chicago, 8-of-24) while the Maroons had the upper hand at the stripe, hitting 78.3 percent (18-of-23) to the Eagles' 69.6 percent (16-of-23). Chicago held a 46-41 edge in the rebounding department with junior Matt Schner pacing Emory in that category with 11 boards, his fourth straight and fifth double-digit effort of the season. The final 20 minutes saw Emory hit on just 31.6 percent (12-of-38) from the floor while UC saw 45.2 percent (14-of-31) of its attempts hit the mark.
With the setback, Emory falls into a second-place tie with Brandeis. The Eagles return to action on Sunday when they host league leader and No. 11-ranked Washington University in a noon tip.