Junior Jake Davis led three double-figure scorers with 20 points in leading the Emory men's basketball team to a non-conference win over Covenant College Tuesday evening at the Woodruff PE Center. The Eagles won their sixth straight home game and upped their overall record to 18-6 following a 75-50 decision over the Scots who slipped to 13-11.
Davis hit seven-of-11 from the field, including all five of his free throw attempts in posting his 10th outing of 20 or more points this season. Senior Alex Greven totaled 19 points, and classmate Michael Friedberg rounded out the trio of double-digit scorers with 12 points while adding four blocks and three steals.
Emory ended the game shooting 52.1 percent (25-of-48) from the field while holding the Scots to 38.0 percent (19-of-50), the tenth time this year that it had held an opponent to less than 40 percent. The Eagles held a 36-28 edge in the rebounding department with Friedberg leading the squad in that category with seven caroms.
With Davis and Greven scoring 11 and 10 points, respectively, in the opening half, Emory never trailed during the opening 20 minutes and staked itself to a 34-23 lead at halftime. The pair combined for nine points as Emory raced out to a 14-4 cushion just five minutes into the game. A bucket by the Scots' Sam Bowman drew them to within eight points with 10:25 in the stanza, before a 12-4 Emory spurt, started by a three-point play by Davis, doubled its lead to 16 points, 32-16, with 3:52 left in the stanza.
After Davis sank a pair of free throws to begin the second half, Covenant went on a 10-0 charge that sliced Emory's lead to three points, 36-33. After a Scots' basket kept them within three points, the Eagles responded with eight unanswered points , with Davis and Greven hitting treys, to go up by a 46-35 margin with 11:44 remaining. After a Covenant basket, Emory held Covenant scoreless for over four minutes while scoring nine straight points in taking a commanding 55-37 lead with 7:25 left. From that stage, the closest Covenant would get would be 17 points.
Emory returns to action on Saturday (Feb. 23) when it hosts UAA-leading Rochester in a 4:00 pm tip. The Eagles trail the Yellowjackets by one game in the standings heading into the regular-season finale.