Box Score The No. 5-ranked Emory men's basketball team continued its roll through the non-conference portion of its schedule on Saturday, using a trio of 20-point scorers in securing a win over Guilford College. The Eagles raised their overall record to 10-0 following a 96-84 victory over the Quakers who fell to 8-4.
Junior Michael Friedberg led the Emory scoring parade with a career-high 26 points, sinking eight-of-11 from the floor including four-of-five from three-point range. Friedberg also led all players with eight rebounds and blocked three shots, his fifth straight outing of two or more rejections. Senior guard Austin Claunch turned in a memorable afternoon, finishing with 23 points en route to becoming just the 10th player in school history to reach the 1,000-career point plateau. Claunch, who sank seven-of-12 field goal tries and seven-of-eight free throw opportunities, entered today's action with 994 career points and reached the milestone with 14:27 left in the first stanza with a layup that gave Emory a 15-10 lead. Sophomore Jake Davis rounded out the group with 20 points, converting eight-of-11 from the floor, including two-of-four from beyond the arc, along with both of his free throw attempts. Senior Alex Gulotta closed out the squad's double-figure scorers with 12 points.
Emory ended the game shooting an even 50 percent (31-of-62) percent from the floor, the fourth time this season it had reached that mark. The Quakers did finish with a 42-36 edge on the glass but turned the ball over a dozen times compared to Emory's 10 miscues. Both teams combined for 23 three-point field goals with Emory sinking 13-of-34 tries while Guilford knocked down 10-of-18. It's the seventh time this season that the Eagles had drained 10 or more triples in a contest and they have won their last 16 contests when totaling 10 or more treys in a game.
Emory's offense was in hyper-drive during the opening half, sinking 57.1 percent (20-of-35) from the floor, including an impressive 45 percent (9-of-20) from three-point range, in building a 59-37 lead at halftime. The Eagles used a number of scoring runs during the opening stanza that led to the 22-point bulge at the intermission, the first being a 10-0 burst that gave them a 21-10 with 12:16 left. Claunch hit back-to-buckets to start the spree with Davis following with two straight baskets. Friedberg then closed out that run with a pair of charity tosses. Holding a 25-17 edge, Gulotta accounted all of Emory's points in a 55-second, 8-0 sprint that upped its advantage to 33-17 with 8:05 remaining in the half. After the Quakers whittled the deficit to 11 points, Emory closed out the final 3:23 of the half on a lethal 14-3 blitz that accounted for the halftime score. Friedberg and junior Alex Greven did all the damage for Emory in that stretch with the pair combining for four treys, three coming from Friedberg who would close out the stanza with 20 points.
In the second half of play, Claunch and Davis each scored 11 points in helping Emory keep its lead at a healthy margin. Davis tallied seven points and Claunch five over a 2:10 stretch that helped the Eagles to a 74-51 margin, the first of three 23-point leads they would have over the final 20 minutes. A three-pointer by GC's Josh Pittman, who would register 20 points on the day, drew the Quakers to within 13 points with 5:02 left but a basket by Friedberg followed by a three pointer by Claunch ended any hopes of a Quaker comeback.
The Eagles return to action on Tuesday (Jan. 33) when they play at Piedmont College in their final regular season non-conference game.
NOTES – Today's triumph over Guilford extends Emory's home win streak to 13 games … The Eagles won their last nine games at the Woodruff PE Center in 2010-11 and are 4-0 this season. In fact, Emory did not lose a home game in the 2011 calendar year … Emory is 9-0 when leading at halftime this year, 46-8 during head coach Jason Zimmerman's tenure as head coach … The Eagles have scored 90 or more points on 22 occasions during Zimmerman's tenure as head coach and own a 20-2 slate in those affairs … Friedberg's three blocked shots this afternoon boosted his career total to 92 and into third place on the school's all-time list, passing John Dragseth's (1996-2000) 90 rejections … The 59-point explosion in the first stanza represented the third-highest total by a Zimmerman-coached squad … Gulotta's three three-point field goals upped his career to 162, good for fifth place on the school's all-time list and just three shy of tying Rashawn Allen's (2001-05) fourth-place total mark of 165 … The 20-point efforts of Friedberg, Claunch and Davis marked just the seventh time in school annals that Emory had three players register 20 or more points in a contest.
