The men’s basketball team swept a pair of University Athletic Association (UAA) games last weekend, defeating the Case Western Reserve University Spartans 106-87 on Friday before topping the Carnegie Mellon University Tartans 84-61 on Sunday. The Eagles moved to 17-6 on the season, including a 9-4 mark in UAA play.
Friday’s game got off to a rough start for the Eagles as Case Western ran out to an early 7-4 lead. The momentum quickly changed to Emory’s favor, however, as the Eagles countered with a dominating 27-5 run over the next eight minutes.
A pair of three-pointers from senior guard Alex Greven and junior forward Jake Davis gave the Eagles a commanding 45-18 advantage with five minutes still to go in the half.
The Eagles’ offensive assault from deep continued as senior forward Michael Friedberg drained a three just beyond the three-minute mark to run the lead to a game-high 29 points.
The Spartans made a run late in the first half to make the deficit a more manageable 56-38, but the Eagles were still well in control heading into the locker room. They shot a blistering 58.1 percent from the field in the opening frame as compared to Case Western’s 46.2, and forced 17 Spartan turnovers.
Greven led the first-half charge for the Eagles with 17 points, while Davis had 15 and sophomore guard Michael Florin contributed 12 points and five assists.
The Spartans drained a three-pointer to open the second half and cut the lead to 13, but they would get no closer the rest of the way. More three-pointers from Greven and Davis stretched Emory’s lead back into the 20-point margin, where it would remain until the final seconds of the game.
It was the second time the Eagles eclipsed 100 points on the season. They finished the game shooting 57.6 percent from the floor, including 53.8 from three-point range – the 12th-best percentage in program history. Greven finished with 26 points, while Davis had 25. Florin added a season-high 16 to go with his team-leading seven assists.
Sunday’s game was more of the same. The Eagles were once again hot from the floor, racing out to a 9-0 lead over Carnegie Mellon in just five minutes. A jumper from freshman forward Will Trawick brought the advantage to 20-6 as the Eagles again succeeded in putting away their opponent in the first half. Junior guard McPherson Moore added a pair of layups late in the half, and Greven drained another three to put Emory on top 44-29 going into halftime.
Two more three-pointers from Greven gave the Eagles a 52-33 edge that they would push into a 20-point margin on a Davis jumper with 12 minutes remaining.
Sophomore forward Alex Foster got in on the hot shooting from deep as he sank a three with five minutes remaining to further extend the lead, and junior guard Stephen Simmons added a layup in the final seconds to cement the 84-61 final.
Emory was once again above 50 percent from the floor, and hit on 47.6 percent of their three-point attempts. The Tartans shot just 37.9 percent on the night.
Greven concluded his weekend with another 26 points, leading all scorers. Davis added 15 points, while Florin had 10.
With the wins, Emory rose to second place in the standings – just a game behind sixth-ranked University of Rochester.
The Eagles will host Rochester on Saturday in a battle for a share of the UAA title, with a win giving them the first conference crown since the 1989-90 season.
First the Eagles will host Covenant College in a nonconference match-up on Tuesday, Feb. 18. The game will tip off at 7 p.m.
– By Ryan Smith
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