Basketball Ends Season at Sweet Sixteen

The Emory men’s basketball team ended their strong season this past Friday, March 13, with a loss in the Round of 16 of the NCAA D-III Tournament to the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, 73 to 53.

Senior guard and captain Josh Schattie led the Eagles with 14 points, followed by senior guards and captains Mike Florin and Alex Foster with 12 apiece. Junior forward Will Trawick had a strong last game, scoring in the double digits as well with 10 points.

“We competed really hard,” Head Coach Jason Zimmerman said. “Throughout the game, nothing went the way we needed it to. We were off defensively, and we missed a few big shots at the beginning. We weren’t the better team that night.”

Junior Stephen Pelkofer and seniors Austin Ryf and Jordan Lutz lead the Stevens Point Pointers with 20, 18 and 10 points respectively.

Stevens Point outshot Emory with a field goal percentage of 51 to Emory’s 36.2 and had a three-point percentage of 42.1 to Emory’s 15.8. The Eagles and the Pointers each had 31 rebounds, but the Pointers had more assists with 13 to Emory’s six and less turnovers with nine to Emory’s 16.

Emory trailed the entire game, going down 20 to 11 with 10 minutes to go in the first half. At the end of the first half, the Eagles were behind 20 to 30.

In the second half, the Pointers slowly expanded their lead. With 10 minutes left, Emory was down by 16 with the score 50 to 34. The Eagles fought until the last minute, but the game ended with a final score of 73 to 53.

“It felt weird knowing this was my last game on the court with my team, knowing I won’t get another chance to play with my team again,” Foster said. “I know this game doesn’t represent my career or our season, but it still sucks to have a bad final game.”

Overall, the Eagles had a great season. The team had an impressive 22 wins with only six losses, the second greatest single-season win total in school history and was ranked 11 nationally. Foster finished his Emory career with 1,097 total points, the 12th most in the school’s history. Florin had 509 assists in his four years playing for the Eagles, the second highest in school history.

“I want to commend the players of this team, especially the four seniors,” Zimmerman said. [quote_box name=""]“They raised the bar, for their teammates and the teammates that will come after them. You want to coach a team like that and Emory basketball is in a great place because of them.”[/quote_box]

Zimmerman added that his seniors played well in addition to leading the team as great role models and representing Emory’s basketball program.

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