Box Score Senior Jake Davis scored a career-high 36 points but it wasn't enough as the Emory men's basketball team dropped a hard-fought UAA road contest to Washington University on Sunday afternoon. The Eagles saw their overall record slip to 13-7, 5-4 in the league, after coming out on the short end of a 94-80 verdict to the No. 4-ranked Bears, who snagged their 13th straight victory in boosting their overall slate to 18-2, 9-0 in the conference.
Davis sank 12 field goals in 28 tries, including a career-high five three-point field goals, en route to registering his fourth outing of 30 or more points this season. In the process, he cracked the 1,700 career-point plateau and now has 1,723 points during his stint in an Eagle uniform. Junior Alex Foster scored all 11 of his points during the second half of play while senior McPherson Moore also added 11 points. Sophomore Will Trawick rounded out the team's double-figure scorers with 10 points.
Wash U made the most of its field goal attempts over the final 20 minutes of play, hitting 60.7 percent (17-of-28) of its attempts in outpointing the Eagles by a 54-40 margin. The Eagles connected on just 35.2 percent (12-of-34) of their opportunities in the second half including two-of-11 from three-point range.
After Davis made one of two free throws, Emory trailed by a 46-45 margin with 15:49 left in the game. The Bears then went on a 14-4 scoring run, with Chris Klimek scoring eight points in that stretch, to take a 60-49 lead with 12:08 on the clock. After Davis sank a pair of free throws to cut the gap to nine points, WU scored the contest's next seven points to surge to a 67-51 cushion. The Eagles got to within 13 points with 7:42 remaining after a Foster free throw, but WU responded with a 6-0 run that stretched its lead to 79-60 with 6:46 left. The Bears would lead by as many as 20 points on three occasions, the final time coming with 4:13 on the clock.
For the game, Emory finished with a 39.4 percent (28-of-71) effort from the field compared to WU's mark of 54.2 percent (32-of-59). The Bears shot an even 50 percent (9-of-18) from beyond the arc and finished with a 48-32 edge on the glass with Klimek and Chris Burt leading them in that category with nine boards apiece. Klimek and Alan Aboona shared for WU scoring honors with 25 points.
With Davis leading the way with 20 points, the Eagles rallied from a nine-point deficit late in the opening half to battle to a 40-40 draw at halftime. Davis hit eight-of-16 from the floor, including four triples in eight tries that saw him knock down one from long range with six ticks on the clock that knotted the score. After a bucket by the Eagles' Will Trawick tied the score at 26-26, WU went on a 12-3 scoring run, with David Fatoki hitting a pair of three pointers in that stretch, to claim a 38-29 lead. Emory responded with four different players scoring in rattling off eight unanswered points to draw to within one point with 49 seconds left. A Fatoki jumper, his seventh and eighth points of the half, with 23 ticks left gave the Bears a three-point edge, setting the stage for Davis's tying bucket. Emory hit 43.2 percent (16-of-37) from the floor in the first half while WU recorded a 48.4 percent (15-of-31) mark. The Bears converted seven-of-12 from three-point range to Emory's performance of five-of-15.
Emory returns to action next Friday evening (Feb. 14) when it plays at Carnegie Mellon.
