The Emory men's basketball team saw its 2015-16 season come to an end Friday evening as a hot-shooting Augustana College squad posted a win over the Eagles in a Round of 16 Game of the NCAA D-III Tournament.  The No. 1-ranked Vikings upped their overall record to 29-1 following an 88-65 triumph over No. 25 Emory who closed out the campaign at 20-8.

Augustana  wound up the evening shooting 55.9 percent (33 of 59) from the floor, an opponent high against the Eagles this year, and knocked down 61.9 percent (13 of 21) from beyond the arc.  Emory, playing without leading scorer Will Trawick who suffered an injury in last Saturday's second-round win over Birmingham Southern,  converted 33.3 percent (20 of 60) of its field goal tries and hit on 31.3 percent from three-point range.  The Vikings finished with a 44-29 edge in rebounding.

Senior Davis Rao led three Emory double-figure scorers with 24 points, his seventh straight double-figure scoring effort and 19^th of the season.    Included in his offensive production were three three-point field goals that raised his career total to 131, good for 10^th place all-time on the school's all-time ladder.  The sophomore duo of Adam Gigax and Donald Avant each recorded 11 points with Avant's effort a career high.   Avant also paced the squad with a career-high seven rebounds.

Hunter Hill led Augustana with 14 points while Tayvian came through with 12 points along with a game-high 11 rebounds.  Ben Ryan chipped in 13 points.

Behind torrid first-half shooting that saw it hit 60.6 percent (20 of 33) from the field, including six-of-nine from beyond the arc, Augustana went into halftime with a 51-29 lead, with the Vikings point total tying an Emory opponent season high this year.  After a bucket by the Eagles' Whit Rapp made the score 10-8 in Augustana's favor, the Vikings went on a 7-0 run, capped by a three pointer by Dylan Sortillo, to take a 17-8 lead.  A triple by junior Jonathan Terry drew Emory to within nine points with 10:08 left in the stanza, but six unanswered points by the hosts upped their lead to 15 points, 29-14.  Emory stayed within striking distance, down by 11 with 5:09 on the clock after a pair of makes at the charity stripe by Donald Avant, but the Eagles went scoreless for nearly a 3:30 span while Augustana went on a 10-0 blitz, in claiming a 46-25 cushion.   Ryan of Augustana led all players with 13 first-half points, while Avant was the Eagles' top scorer with eight points.  Emory hit just 32.1 percent (9 of28) from the floor during the opening 20 minutes of action and was outrebounded by a 22-12 margin.

The contest closed the books on the career for four Emory seniors – Rao, Trawick, Evan Coleman and Sam Heery.  This year marked Emory's third consecutive appearance in the NCAA Tourney's Round of 16.