The Emory men’s basketball team won both of their games this past weekend against Carnegie Mellon University (Pa.) 75-61 on Friday night, and Case Western Reserve University (Ohio) 86-82 on Sunday night.
Due to an 18 point performance from senior forward Davis Rao and a 13 point performance from junior guard Jonathan Terry, the Eagles were able to hold off the Tartans.
The game was close in the opening minutes, but Emory pulled ahead towards the end of the first half and never looked back. The game was tied 22-22 with 4:01 remaining in the first half, but the Eagles pulled together and scored seven straight unanswered points with a three-pointer by Terry and four points from sophomore guard Will Rapp. From that point on, the Eagles never fell behind, eventually winning the game by 14.
The Eagles won on Friday night over the Spartans through superior shot selection and, in turn, a higher field goal percentage. The Eagles shot 27 of 64 (42.2%) from the field, while the Tartans were only able to muster up a measly 33.9% from the field during the game. What the Eagles lacked in rebounding edge, giving up 42 rebounds to their 34, they made up for by turning the ball over less (16 compared to six) and limiting the Tartans to lower percentage shots.
Case Western Reserve provided a much bigger challenge.
While the first half, in which the Eagles held a halftime lead of 40-36, didn’t prove to be very interesting, the second half was quite the opposite. The Eagles took the game’s biggest lead, at 60-48, with 11:07 left in the second half, but the Spartans proved to be a resilient bunch. After maintaining a sizable lead for the majority of the game, the Eagles allowed the Spartans to come back and take an 82-81 with 43 seconds to play.
Nonetheless, the Eagles managed to come through with a win. In their next possession, the Eagles retook the lead with a three-pointer by Terry. The three left him with 24 points on the night, and ended up being the night’s game-winning basket.
Terry was helped by sophomore forward Adam Gigax, who put up a good all-around performance with 21 points and four rebounds. Senior forward Will Trawick contributed to the win as well, putting up 15 points to go with 10 rebounds on the night.
The Eagles hit the road again next weekend. They will play on Friday, Jan. 29 at the University of Chicago (Ill.) and Sunday, Jan. 31 against Washington University in St. Louis (Mo.).
Avery Yang is a College sophomore from Los Angeles, California, by way of New York City.
