Senior Jim Gordon scored 21 of his game-high 25 points in the second half in leading the Emory men's basketball team to a Sunday afternoon win over Carnegie Mellon.  The Eagles won their third straight contest and upped their overall record to 17-7, 8-5 in the University Athletic Association, following an 88-73 decision over the Tartans who slipped to 13-11 in overall play, 7-6 in the league.

Gordon connected on eight-of-14 field goal attempts, including four-of-eight from three-point range, and made five free throws in notching his 22^nd double-figure scoring effort of the year and fifth of 20 or more points.  Junior Christopher Avant totaled 18 points, sinking seven field goals in 12 opportunities and all four of his free throw attempts, while Adam Gigax totaled 12 points.  Junior Whitt Rapp and sophomore Gebereal Baitey rounded out the double-digit scorers for Emory with 11 points apiece.

Gordon did a fair share of his damage over a three-minute stretch in the second stanza, scoring the final 11 of a 13-2 Emory burst that stretched a three-point lead to 74-60 with 7:25 left in the game. The Tartans drew to within 10 points with 5:45 on the clock, but a bucket by senior Austin DaGue followed by a Gordon trey, boosted Emory back to an 80-65 cushion with 4:50 remaining. From there, the closest CMU would get was 13 points.  Gordon converted seven of his 10 attempts from the floor over the final 20 minutes, including three three-point field goals.

With Avant scoring the first six points, Emory used a 12-4 run early in the second half to bolt to a 51-38 lead.  The Eagles still held a 10-point advantage, 53-43, with 15:22 left following a pair of charity tosses by Baitey, but a 15-8 CMU counter, with the final five points coming by Jack Serbin, drew it to within three points, 61-58,  setting the stage for Gordon's offensive outburst.  Serbin paced the Carnegie Mellon attack with 20 points.

For the game, Emory was successful on 49.1 percent (28 of 57) from the floor, and drained 45 percent (9 of 20) from distance.  The Tartans finished with a 41.8 percent (28 of 67) showing from the floor but struggled from long range, hitting four treys in 18 tries.  The win raised Emory's home record to 9-1 and to 13-1 when scoring 80 or more points.

Emory's ability to knock down three pointers helped it to a 39-31 edge at halftime.  Four different players combined to connect on six triples in 13 attempts while the Tartans hit just two of nine.  Emory trailed by four points early but used a 10-0 run, which saw Gigax and Gordon sink treys in that stretch, to claim an 11-5 lead with 13:04 left.  CMU eventually drew to within one point, but seven unanswered points by the Eagles, ignited by a three pointer by Baitey and followed by back-back buckets by Avant gave the home the first of three eight-point leads at 20-12 with 9:28 on the clock.  A Gigax three pointer allowed Emory to post a 27-19 cushion with 6:19 left, but the Tartans answered with a 10-3 charge, keyed by Colin McNeil's six points, to slash their gap to 30-29 with 2:52 remaining.  A three-pointer by Rapp, followed by baskets by Avant and Rapp, boosted Emory to a 37-29 lead before CMU answered with a basket with 30 seconds left.  Sophomore Spencer Osborne closed out the scoring on a nifty tip in at the buzzer off a missed three pointer by Gordon to close out the scoring.

Emory returns to action on Saturday (Feb. 25) when it closes out the regular season with a Senior Day battle against No. 6-ranked Rochester.