Box Score Senior Alex Greven scored 16 of his game-high tying 24 points in the second half and junior Jake Davis added 20 points in helping the Emory men's basketball team to a win at New York University on Sunday afternoon. The Eagles raised their overall record to 14-5, 6-3 in the University Athletic Association, following a hard-fought 74-69 decision over the Violets who slipped to 13-7 overall, 3-5 in the conference.
Greven concluded the contest sinking eight-of-12 from the floor including a career-high seven-of-12 from three-point range with that total tying the third-highest individual mark in school history. Greven knocked down all five of his three-point attempts over the final 20 minutes of play and in the process ran his streak to 33 contests of at least one trey. Davis posted an impressive nine-of-18 effort from the floor, three-of-five from beyond the arc, in racking up his 42nd straight performance of double-figure scoring. Sophomore Alex Foster closed out the squad's double-digit scorers with 10 points.
The Eagles were the beneficiaries of some outstanding long-shooting, draining 15-of-29 from downtown, the second-highest effort of the season and tying the third-highest team total in school history, with six different players finishing with treys. In addition, the 15 three pointers tied a Coles Center record. Emory needed just about every triple as the host Violets, coming off a win over No. 1 Rochester on Friday, battled the Eagles down to the wire. Emory recorded a final showing of 47.3 percent (26-of-55) from the floor compared to NYU's 40 percent (24-of-60) mark. The Violets did convert 14-of-17 from the charity stripe vs. 7-of-10 for the Emory and enjoyed a 41-27 edge on the glass but couldn't overcome Emory's hot outside shooting.
Trailing by a 41-39 margin with 13:19 left in the game following a trey by NYU's Ryan Tana, Emory responded with an 13-4 burst, with Greven, junior McPherson Moore and sophomore Michael Florin all hitting three pointers, that gave it a 52-45 margin with 10:50 left in the game. Moore capped that run with two shots from the free throw line, his 38th and 39th consecutive makes from the stripe which established a school record, bettering the previous standard of 38 held by Austin Claunch. After a three pointer by senior Michael Friedberg, who also finished with five blocked shots, pushed Emory's lead to six points, 58-52, with 7:15 on the clock, the Violets scored five unanswered points to creep to within 58-57 with 6:28 remaining. After a bucket by Davis, followed by a Greven three pointer, pushed the Eagles' advantage back to six points, NYU stayed within striking distance with four free throws closing its gap to 63-61 with 2:41 on the clock. Holding a three-point lead, Davis scored five straight points for the Eagles, the first three coming via a triple, which helped Emory secure a 71-65 margin with 1:10 left. After a NYU bucket with 59 ticks left, the Violets missed a pair of free throws with 20 seconds remaining. However, NYU managed to secure the rebound only to see Florin come up with a steal, flipping it to Foster who went in for an uncontested layup to seal the victory.
Behind 12 points from Davis and eight from Greven, the Eagles claimed a31-26 edge at halftime. Davis, who sank five-of-eight from the floor, including a pair of three pointers, totaled 10 of the team's first 12 points of the contest. While it misfired on its first nine field goal attempts of the contest, Emory connected on 12 of its final 19 tries of the stanza to post a 43 percent (12-of-28) mark from the floor while the host Violets were successful on just 30 percent (10-of-33). Emory used the long ball to its advantage in the first half, raining down seven triples including a pair of back-to-back treys by Alex Foster in a 28-second span that erased a one-point NYU edge and gave the Eagles the five-point margin at the break.
Emory returns to action on Friday (Feb. 8) when it plays at Washington University.
