From Emory University Athletics
Junior Davis Rao sank two free throws with five seconds left that rallied the Emory men's basketball team to an 85-84 come-from-behind win over Whitworth University Saturday evening in the second round of the NCAA D-III Men's Basketball Tournament. The No. 11-ranked Eagles, now 22-5 on the season, advance to next weekend's Round of 16. Whitworth closed out its season with a 25-4 won-lost record. Emory served as the host site for the opening rounds of the Tournament with the games played at the Woodruff PE Center
Whitworth rattled off a 12-2 run, with six points coming by junior George Valle, to take a 52-41 lead with 15:27 left in the game. Emory responded with a 10-3 charge, capped by a bucket by Terry, that enabled the Eagles to creep to within four points with 12:37 on the clock, and the Eagles still trailed by a four-point margin with 10:23 remaining after Foster sank a pair of foul shots. The Pirates extended their lead to 12 points as senior Adam Wilks recorded six points during a 13-5 charge that put them ahead by a 75-63 margin with 8:06 left. Wilks ended the game with 21 points and 11 rebounds.
Facing an 11-point gap, Emory used buckets by Rao, senior Michael Florin and junior Will Trawick, along with a free throw by senior Josh Schattie, to slice the deficit to four points with 5:25 on the clock. After a jumper by Valle pushed WC to a six-point edge, Emory kept the comeback intact with some good defensive stands during an 11-2 spurt, the final seven points coming from Foster, over a 2:20 span to take an 83-80 lead with 2:38 remaining. Whitworth knotted the score following a three-point play by sophomore guard Kenny Love, and took a one-point lead with 28 seconds left after Valle made one-of-two from the stripe. After Valle's charity toss, Emory turned the ball over, but the Pirates couldn't capitalize as they gave it right back to Emory following a turnover on their ensuing possession. Rao then got fouled and calmly sank his two opportunities from the stripe, and a last-ditch three-point attempt by WC missed its mark giving Emory the win.
Leading the Emory scoring attack was Foster with 27 points while sophomore Jonathan Terry added 22 points, 18 coming during the opening 20 minutes of action. Foster, who scored 15 points in the second half, wound up the night hitting nine-of-17 from the floor, three-of-five from beyond the arc, in registering his 15th performance of the season with 20 or more points. Foster also led Emory with nine rebounds. Terry was successful on nine field goals in 14 tries, and knocked down four three pointers in eight opportunities. Florin rounded out the team's double-figure scorers with 14 points. Florin also doled out eight assists and in the process moved his career total to 506.
Emory shot a season-high 57.7 percent (30-of-52) from the floor and was deadly from three-point range, sinking eight-of-15. The Pirates finished at 51.7 percent (30-of-58) from the field, but converted just four-of-14 from distance. Whitworth did post a 32-24 edge in rebounding.
In a game that was searching for flow during the opening 10 minutes of play, Emory led by a 20-19 count before Terry personally accounted for a 9-0 Eagle run, sinking three straight three pointers that put the hosts up by a 29-19 margin with 7:27 left in the stanza. Emory still held a seven point advantage, 35-28, with 3:29 on the clock following a pair of charity tosses by Foster, but the Pirates stormed out of the half with a 12-3 blitz, with Wilks accounting for eight points in that run, to claim a 40-37 edge heading into the break. Terry turned in a huge half for Emory, totaling 18 points on seven-of-10 field goal shooting, including four-of-six from beyond the arc. Foster added 12 points. Wilks totaled 10 points to lead the Pirates' first-half scoring efforts while George Valle, despite being saddled with two early fouls, contributed nine points. Emory shot 54.2 percent (13-of-24) from the field in the first half while Whitworth connected on 48.5 percent (16-of-33).