Junior Matt Davet totaled a game-high 24 points and the Emory men's basketball team came through with a strong second-half effort in securing a Tuesday evening win at home over Covenant College.  The No. 2-ranked Eagles raised their overall record to 5-0 following a tight 67-62 decision over the Scots who slipped to 3-2.  The victory closed out a three-game home stand for Emory.

Davet ended the evening seven-of-10 from the floor, including six a career-best six three-point field goals in seven opportunities, and was successful on all four of his charity tosses in tying his fourth-highest career point total.  Juniors Romin Williams and Matt Schner each rang up 13 points, with Schner pacing the squad with eight boards, while classmate Lawrence Rowley rounded out the double-digit scorers with 11 points.

Covenant College was successful on 15 of its first 23 field goal attempts in taking a 35-26 lead with 4:00 minutes left in the opening half.  Emory was able to slice the deficit to three points, 40-37, heading into halftime as a result of an 11-5 run over the 3:15 of the stanza that saw Davet nail a triple and junior Clay Washburn score all five of his points.  Davet produced 15 first-half points, draining five-of-six from the field and all four of his attempts from distance. The Scots connected on 60.7 percent (17-for-28) from the field and knocked down five three pointers while the Eagles were successful on 40 percent (12-of30) from the floor and 43.8 percent (7-of-16) from beyond the arc.

Covenant maintained a three-point edge early in the second half before Emory responded with an 11-2 burst, keyed by six points from Davet and five from Schener, over a six-minute stretch to claim a 53-47 lead with 9:26 on the clock.  After the Scots drew to within a pair, tow buckets from Rowley, sandwiched around a Davet triple, accounted for all of the scoring during a 7-0 spurt that pushed the Eagles to a 63-54 margin with 5:13 on the clock.  A jumper by Williams with 3:29 remaining gave Emory a 65-57 margin but the Scots battled back to a 65-62 count with 1:37 left.  After the teams traded turnovers, an Emory field goal try missed its mark with Covenant snaring the rebound.  After a timeout and with 21 ticks remaining, the Scots launched a three-point attempt in the waning moments that missed and that was grabbed by Rowley, who was subsequently fouled and sank both free throws with one second left.  Emory shot 40 percent (10-of-25) from the field over the final 20 minutes while the Scots cooled off considerably, hitting just 33.3 percent (8-of-24).

For the game, Covenant held an advantage in field goal shooting, 48.1 percent (25-of-52) to Emory's 40 percent (22-of-55) while the Eagles sank 38.5 percent (10-of-26) from distance to the Scots 34.8 percent (8-of-23).  Emory fared better at the foul line by connecting on 13-of-18 while Covenant could only mister four makes in 10 tries.

Emory returns to action on Saturday (Nov. 30) when it takes on Pfeiffer at the Maryville College Thanksgiving Classic.