Box Score The Emory men's basketball team saw its seven-game win streak come to an end Saturday afternoon as it dropped its University Athletic Association opener at the University of Rochester. The Eagles saw their overall record dip to 9-3 following an 84-54 setback to the No. 4-ranked Yellowjackets who remained unbeaten at 12-0.
Rochester led wire-to-wire in posting its eighth win at home in as many outings, hitting 47.5 percent (29 of 61) of its field goal attempts while Emory shot a season-low 31.3 percent (15 of 48). UR was successful on 31 percent (9 of 29) of its three-point opportunities compared to the Eagles' 25 percent (5 of 20).
Junior Adam Gigax led Emory in scoring with 14 points, with senior Jim Gordon the other Eagle to finish in double digits with 12 points, sinking four-of-seven from the floor, including three treys in five opportunities. It was Gordon's team-high 11th double-figure scoring performance of the season and Gigax's 10th. Both Gigax and Gordon tied for the squad's lead with five rebounds.
Rochester got out of the blocks quickly, taking advantage of the Eagles' slow start during the early stages of the opening half. With Emory hitting just three of its first 14 field goal tries and the Yellowjackets converting nine-of-15 from the floor, the hosts enjoyed a 21-7 lead with 11:52 remaining in the stanza following a three pointer by Jacob Wittig. After a bucket by Gigax and a pair of free throws by Donald Avant cut the deficit to 10 points, seven unanswered points by UR boosted it to its largest lead of the half, 28-11, with 6:45 on the clock. The Eagles then responded with an 11-0 blitz, which saw Gigax score the first eight points of the run, to draw to within 28-22. After the teams traded buckets, Rochester scored five straight points as part of a 9-2 spurt, o extend their lead to 39-26 with 2:14 remaining. A triple by Gordon with 55 ticks on the clock, cut UR's cushion to 10 points, but the Yellowjackets used a trey by Wittig and a pair of charity tosses by Tucker Knox to claim a 46-31 bulge heading into the break. Gigax led the Emory scoring attack with 12 points while Wittig and Sam Borst-Smith each totaled a dozen points for Rochester. Emory shot 37 percent from the floor (10 of 27) while Rochester checked in at 45.5 percent (15 of 33).
Emory continued to find a lid on the basket in the second half, hitting just one of its first 11 from the field as Rochester ballooned its lead to 58-34 following the second of back-to-back triples by Mack Montague. The Eagles responded with two straight three pointers by Gordon, and when Gigax sank a pair from the charity stripe, what was once a 24-point deficit was cut to 17 with 9:38 left in the contest. However, the Yellowjackets answered the Emory comeback bid with nine unanswered points, capped by a trey by Montague, to post a 70-44 margin with 7:40 on the clock. Montague led all players with 19 points while Borst-Smith and Zack Ayers added 18 and 15 points, respectively.
Emory returns to action next Friday (Jan. 13) when it entertains Washington University in a scheduled 8:00 pm start.
