The men's basketball team opened the 2013-14 season in this past weekend at the Black Tie Classic hosted by Birmingham-Southern College (Ala). The Eagles came away with a loss and a win and now stand at 1-1 for the season.
Head Coach Jason Zimmerman said his team played well, but he expected more.
"I think you win as a team, you lose as a team," Zimmerman said. "We did some very good things both games, but today's game we failed to sustain any focused effort. We played hard, but it did not cut it. We gotta play hard with a purpose."
On Saturday, Emory played Spalding University (Ky.), opening their season on a positive note by beating the Golden Eagles 67-53.
"It was a much slower paced game than we want," Zimmerman said. "We defended fairly well, and percentage-wise, we defended well."
Emory finished the game with a 44.4 percent shooting percentage (24 for 54) in shots. Three-point shooting proved to be the key to the contest. The Eagles made 46.6 percent of three pointers (7 for 15) while the Golden Eagles converted just two of 12.
Emory had three players post double digit scoring, led by senior Jake Davis who scored 18 points. Davis scored six of 12 from the floor and five of six foul shots. Junior Michael Florin and sophomore Davis Rao both chipped in 11 points.
Emory took advantage of the shot clock to lengthen their possessions and the defense held the Golden Eagles back. Emory finished the first half with a 32-21 lead.
"We were able to hold on and get a win by using a concentrated defensive effort," Zimmerman said.
After Spalding scored the first basket of the second half, Emory responded with an eight to two burst capped by a score by Florin to take charge of the game 40-25.
The Golden Eagles attempted to come back by closing the gap to 11 points on a couple of occasions, but Emory stopped both attempts with runs of their own.
The 53 points scored by Spalding is the lowest total ever by an Emory opponent in a season opening game. The win raised the Eagles all time record for season openers to 18-10.
The Eagles played their second game of the weekend the following day on Sunday against the home Birmingham-Southern.
The Eagles suffered a tough loss, succumbing to the Panthers 96-70 after BSC pulled away late in the second half.
"We fought and fought to the end, but our focused and concentrated effort was lacking today and we need to be better than that," Zimmerman said.
The Panthers outshot the Eagles by posting a 56.3 percent (27 of 48) field goal percentage and seven of 16 three pointers as compared to Emory's 39.4 percent (26 of 66) field goal percentage and seven of 24 three pointers.
Davis, Florin and senior McPherson Moore all scored in the double digits with 23, 15 and 13 points respectively. Rao and junior Josh Schattie each made six rebounds.
Although the Eagles lost, Zimmerman was satisfied with his team's effort.
"We continue to play hard," he said. "That is a trademark of what we have done here. We compete till the buzzer goes off."
Emory trailed 40-37 at halftime as the Panthers made 53.8 of its attempts in the first half. Moore paced the scoring effort for the Eagles by scoring all of his 13 points in the first half.
With 15:34 left in the game, the Eagles trailed by four points, 52-48, but they went without a field goal for nearly seven minutes. During this stretch, BSC upped its lead 13 points. Emory brought down the deficit to just five points with 3:59 left in regulation thanks to Davis's four straight points.
"We could never really get a run going because we couldn't make a stop," Zimmerman said. "If we cannot make stops, then it is really hard to get a run going ... We have to be better at finishing plays."
After the teams traded baskets, BSC converted four straight free throws to bring the lead up to nine points with 1:48 left. Florin scored a basket to keep the Eagles alive, but Emory was not able to score after that. The Panthers went to the line 40 times scoring 29 times, while the Eagles made 17 of 25.
Zimmerman was not pleased with the Eagles' defensive performance.
"We put them at the line 40 times tonight, and it is hard to win a basketball game and gain momentum when you have stats like that," Zimmerman said. "We have to do a much better job on the defensive end so that we do not have to rely on making shots to boost our energy."
The Eagles return to action this Thursday, Nov. 21st, when they play at Virginia Wesleyan College at 7 p.m.
– By Alexander Del Re
