From Emory University Athletics

Senior Davis Rao led four double-figure scorers with a season-high 20 points Tuesday evening in the leading the Emory men's basketball team to a win at Oglethorpe University.  The Eagles upped their overall record to 6-3 following an 85-69 triumph over the Stormy Petrels who slumped to 1-6.

Rao wound up the contest knocking down six-of-11 from the floor, including five triples in eight opportunities, in posting his third straight and fifth double-figure scoring performance of the season.   Junior Jonathan Terry came off the bench to rack up 17 points, 11 in the second half, ending the evening converting six-of-13 from the floor, four-of-eight from beyond the arc.  Senior Will Trawick and sophomore Adam Gigax  rounded out Emory's double-digit producers with 13 and 10 points, respectively. 

After Oglethorpe tied the score at 42-42 with 17:21 left in the game, Emory exploded with a 30-5 blitz over a seven-minute stretch that propelled it to a 72-47 cushion with 10:33 on the clock.   There were two big Eagle runs over that stretch, the first being 14-2 spurt followed by a 16-3 charge.  Rao chalked up 10 points during the decisive span, hitting three treys, his final resulting on a four-point play that gave Emory a 66-47 lead.  In addition, freshman Beau Bommarito tallied six of his game total of nine points, hitting two from distance, while Terry chipped in six points.  Oglethorpe mounted a comeback bid, holding Emory to a three pointer by Terry and a pair of free throws by Trawick over a seven-minute span, creeping back to within 11 points, 77-66, with 4:04 left in the game.  However, the Eagles ended the OU hopes by scoring six unanswered points, four by Adam Gigax, to claim a 16-point lead with just under two minutes remaining.  The Eagles were successful on 50 percent of their field goal attempts (15 of 30) over the final 20 minutes of play, and sank the same percentage from distance (7 of 14). 

For the game, Emory shot 43.3 percent from the floor (29 of 67) vs. Oglethorpe's effort of 38.5 percent (20 of 52).  The Eagles turned in another solid long-distance shooting performance, draining 14 treys in 34 tries (41.2 percent) compared to the Petrels' 25.7 percent (9 of 35).  Emory recorded a 44-28 edge in rebounding and was led in that category by Rao and Terry, who each snagged seven boards.

Behind 10 points from Rao and productive play from the bench that accounted for 19 points, Emory held a 40-34 edge at halftime.  After a three pointer by OU's George Andino knotted the score at 27-27, the Eagles went on a 10-2 run, the first five points coming from senior Sam Heery, to claim a 37-29 lead with 2:21 left in the stanza.  The Stormy Petrels drew to within three points after a pair of charity tosses by Connor Smith, but a timely three-point play by the Eagle sophomore Chris Avant with 52 ticks on the clock closed out the scoring for the half.  Emory hit on 37.8 percent (14 of 37) of its field goal opportunities, compared to Oglethorpe's 40.0 percent (10 of 25), but shot better from beyond the arc with five players recording seven triples in 20 tries while OU hit four of 16 from distance.