Juniors Matt Davet and Nick Stuck combined for 43 points but it wasn't enough as the Emory men's basketball team saw a furious second-half rally come up short in a Sunday afternoon road setback to Case Western Reserve.  The No. 8-ranked Eagles saw their overall record slip to 20-4, 10-3 in the University Athletic Association, after dropping an 83-78 verdict to Case Western, who improved to 13-11 in overall action, 6-7 in league outings.

After CWRU opened the second half on a 9-0 burst, with Monty Khela accounting for all of the Spartans' points, Emory faced a daunting 56-39 deficit. The Eagles began to chip away with Stuck scoring all six points during a 6-2 run that drew Emory to within a dozen.  After a Cole Frilling jumper pushed Case to a 62-49 edge, Emory accounted for eight of the game's next 10 points, sparked by a pair of Davet triples and bucket by Stuck, to creep to within seven points at 64-57 with 10:10 left on the clock.  The Spartans countered with five unanswered points to regain a double-digit advantage, but with Stuck scoring five points, Emory mounted an 8-2 charge that cut its obstacle to six points with 7:03 remaining.  Case went up by a 76-67 count with 5:13 left after Antonio Ionadi hit a three-pointer, but the Eagles responded by rattling off seven straight points, capped by a Davet trey, that brought them to within two points with 2:27 remaining.  A Frilling three-pointer pushed the Spartans to a 79-74 advantage, but Emory kept the pressure on with junior Lawrence Rowley scoring on a put-back with 44 ticks left.  Emory then forced a Case turnover that resulted in Matt Schner scoring on a layup just three seconds later.  After a pair of Khela's charity tosses gave the hosts a three-point lead, the Eagles had a chance to tie the game, but misfired on a three-point attempt.  Case got the rebound and then hit a pair of foul shots to close out the game.

Davet totaled a team-high 24 points, hitting eight-of-11 field goals, including five three-pointers, en route to posting his 17th double-figure effort of the year and fourth of 20 or more points.  His three-pointer with 13:25 left in the second half enabled him to become the 17th player in school history to reach 1,000 points in a career.  Stuck rang up 19 points, exploding for 17 over the final 20 minutes, ending the afternoon eight-of-17 from the field, two-of-six from distance, and three-of-four from the stripe. Rowley closed out the team's double-figure scorers with 15 points while also pacing the Eagles with nine rebounds.

Khela led all players with 30 points.

Case used some keen shooting, connecting 55.9 percent (19-of-34) from the floor in claiming a 47-39 edge at halftime.  The Eagles converted 44.8 percent (13-of-29) of their field goal attempts including three-of-nine from beyond the arc.  Davet produced 13 points, sinking all five of his field goal attempts, including both his triple tries, while Rowley added 12 points.  A Davet three-pointer with 3:52 on the clock cut a CWRU lead to two points, but the Spartans closed out the stanza on a 6-0 burst.  Monty Khela totaled 16 points during the opening 20 minutes while Robert Faller chipped in 14 points.

Emory returns to action next Saturday (Feb. 29) when it plays at the University of Rochester.