Senior Austin Claunch established a school game record for assists Friday evening in leading the Emory men's basketball team to a win over University the Chicago.  The Eagles upped their overall record to 16-3, 5-3 in the University Athletic Association following an 83-67 victory over the Maroons who slipped to 11-8, 4-4 in the league.

Claunch totaled 13 assists, bettering the previous mark of 12 that he had put up on three occasions. He also totaled 19 points, hitting nine-of-15 from the floor, and grabbed seven boards and while coming up with three steals.  Leading the Eagles' scoring attack was sophomore Jake Davis with 26 points, his eighth outing of 20 or more points this season, while chalking up a game-high 10 rebounds, his sixth double-double of the campaign.   Rounding out the team's double-digit scorers was junior Michael Friedberg with 11 points.

While UC outshot Emory from the floor, hitting 48.1 percent (26-of-54) compared to the Eagles' effort of 44.3 percent (31-of-70).  Emory enjoyed a big advantage in three-point shooting, hitting 10-of-27 from distance while UC connected on four-of-16.   Emory turned the ball over just six times compared the Maroons' miscues that helped the Eagles to a 24-11 advantage in the points-off-turnovers category.

Emory never trailed in the game and blasted out to a 20-4 lead, hitting eight of its first 11 field goal attempts.  After UC hit back-to-back buckets, Emory countered  with a 12-5 run, with Claunch picking up a couple of buckets in that stretch, that enabled it to surge to a 32-13 advantage with 7:41 left in the stanza.   Emory would lead by as many as 23 points, 47-24, with 42 seconds left following a score by Claunch, before taking a 47-26 margin into the locker room at halftime.  Both Claunch and Davis totaled 15 points during the opening stanza while Friedberg chipped in eight points. 

Chicago opened the opening 6:19 of the second half on a 20-9 scoring advantage that cut the Emory lead to 56-46.   A three-pointer by freshman Alex Foster, followed by a bucket by Claunch,  extended the Eagles' lead to 61-46 12:55 remaining before a UC 9-2 burst, capped by a triple from Michael Sustarsic, drew the visitors to within eight points with 9:31 on the clock.   But, Emory regained the momentum with a 10-0 charge, started by a three-pointer by freshman Mike Florin, followed by back-to-back buckets by junior Alex Greven, and closed out by a Justin Resnick trey, to bolt to a 73-55 lead with 7:26 remaining.  From that point, the closest Chicago would be able to get was 15 points.

The triumph boosted Emory's home record to 8-0 this season and was its 17^th straight win at the Woodruff PE Center. 

Emory returns to action on Sunday (Feb. 5) when it hosts No.  25 and UAA co-leader Washington University  (14-5; 6-2 UAA) starting at noon.