The Emory men's basketball saw a furious rally down the stretch come up short as it dropped its season opener Tuesday evening at Covenant College.  The Eagles dropped a 74-70 verdict to the Scots, ending the program's seven-game winning streak in season openers.

Junior Adam Gigax and senior Jim Gordon shouldered most of the scoring duties on the night, with both players establishing career highs, Gigax with 26 and Gordon with 25. Gigax connected on nine-of-13 field goal attempts, including a career best six-of-seven from beyond the arc, while Gordon was successful on eight-of-17 field goal tries, four-of-nine from distance.  The pair was unstoppable over the final 20 minutes of action, combining for 37 (Gigax with 19 & Gordon with 18) of the team's 38 second-half points.

Emory shot 39.3 percent from the floor (22 of 58) while the hosts finished with an effort of 44.4 percent (28 of 63).  The Eagles sank 36.7 percent (11 of 30) of their triple tries while CC checked in at 31.6 percent (6 of 19).  While the Scots did own a slim 41-38 edge in rebounding, a key statistic was Emory turning the ball over 22 times, which led to 25 Covenant College points, while the Scots recorded 19 miscues that the Eagles generated into 12 points.

Trailing by one point early in the second half,  Emory saw Covenant go on a 10-3 run that pushed the Scots to an eight-point lead with 11:10 left on the clock.  After seeing its advantage cut to six points, Covenant went on a 7-2 spurt that gave it a 58-47 bulge with 8:06 left in the game.  The Scots kept Emory at bay and appeared to have a comfortable 69-56 margin with just 2:43 remaining.  However, Emory unleased a fury of three pointers, knocking down four treys (two by Gigax and two by Gordon) as part of a 14-2 blitz over a 2:17 stretch that drew it to within one point with 16 ticks on the clock. After Covenant made one of two charity tosses, Emory had the ball with a chance to tie or win but turned the ball over with Berto Dryden hitting a layup off his steal with two seconds remaining that closed out the game's scoring.

Emory returns to action this Friday (Nov. 18) when it plays William Peace in the Guilford College Invitational.