The Emory men's basketball team saw its five-game win streak come to an end Friday evening as a second-half rally came up short at Brandeis.  The Eagles saw their overall record slip to 14-5, 5-3 in the University Athletic Association, after sustaining a 67-59 setback to the Judges who upped their overall slate to 7-11, 3-5 in conference play.

Senior Jim Gordon shouldered much of the scoring load for the Eagles, finishing with a squad-best 21 points on nine-of-17 field goal shooting, including three-of-eight from three-point range.  It was his 12^th straight and 18^th double-figure outing of the year and third of 20 or more points.  Junior Whit Rapp was the other Eagle to total double digits in the scoring column, finishing with 11 points, nine coming in the second half, while doling out nine assists. His assists total enabled him to move into the No. 3 spot on the program's seasonal ladder with 167.

For the second straight Friday, Emory faced a second-half double-figure deficit against BU, trailing by a 46-33 margin with 12:38 left in the contest. The Eagles began their comeback with an 11-2 surge, which saw sophomore Beau Bommarito score five points and Gordon and Rapp sink triples, in slicing the gap to one point with 7:50 remaining.   Rapp knocked down another trey with 5:00 left to keep Emory within one point, but a BU free throw followed by a layup off a steal pushed the home team to a 55-51 advantage. The Eagles answered with a three pointer by Adam Gigax which was then countered by a Judges' basket by Jordan Cooper.  The Eagles got to within one point for the fourth time over a five-minute stretch when a jumper in the lane by Gordon cut the Brandeis lead to 57-56 with 2:44 remaining.  However, the Judges closed out the final 1:44 of the contest by outpointing Emory by a 10-3 margin, with all of their points coming at the foul line.

Emory closed out the game sinking just 32.4 percent (22 of 68) of its field goal attempts, tying its second-lowest mark of the season. Brandeis wasn't much more effective, checking in at 35.3 percent (18 of 51).   Free throw shooting played a role in the outcome with the Judges making 25 of 34 from the stripe compared to Emory's 6 of 10.  Both teams finished with 41 rebounds.  BU's Cooper topped all players with 28 points, hitting seven field goals in 18 tries and 12-of-14 free throws.

Emory got off to an ice-cold start, hitting just three of its first 12 field goal attempts in falling behind by a 16-6 margin midway through the first half.   Five straight points by Gordon would draw Emory to within four points with 6:12 left in the stanza, but a 10-4 BU spurt, capped by a Cooper, three pointer extended the Judges' cushion to 27-17 with 46 seconds left.  A bucket by senior Jonathan Terry and three pointer at the buzzer by Gigax cut the deficit to five points, 27-22, at halftime. Gordon scored nine points over the opening 20 minutes of action that saw Emory connect on just 9-of-33 field goal opportunities including three triples in 13 attempts.

Emory returns to action on Sunday when it plays at New York University.