From Emory University Athletics

Senior Davis Rao led six double-figure scorers with 16 points, and the Emory men's basketball team opened University Athletic Association play on a successful note with a Saturday afternoon home win over Rochester. The Eagles boosted their overall record to 8-4 following a 78-75 decision over the Yellowjackets who slipped to 8-5.

Rao converted four-of-six field goal opportunities, including both three-point attempts, and six free throws in eight tries en route to his sixth straight and eighth double-digit performance of the season. Junior Jonathan Terry contributed 14 points, while sophomore Whit Rapp totaled a career-high 13 points to go along with seven assists.  Rounding out the double-digit point producers were sophomore Adam Gigax (12 pts.) junior Austin DaGue (11 pts.) and senior Will Trawick (10 pts.).  Today's outing against UR represented the first time Emory had six players finish with double-figure scoring since Dec. 8, 2012 (vs. Piedmont).

Emory trailed by a 43-42 count early in the second half before rattling off a 16-4 run, with Trawick scoring six points and DaGue and Terry adding four points, to claim a 58-47 edge with 12:48 left in the contest. After a triple by the Yellowjackets' Brendan O'Shea cut the Eagles' margin to eight points, a subsequent 10-2 Emory blitz, started by back-to-back triples by Trawick and Terry, pushed Emory to its largest lead of the day, 68-52, with 9:04 on the clock. The Eagles maintained a 71-57 cushion following a trey by Rao, but UR battled back with eight unanswered points to draw to within six points, 71-65 with just under three minutes on the clock. However, Emory countered with four charity tosses by Rao to push its margin to 10 points with 1:42 remaining. Free throws by Rao and DaGue over a 20-second  stretch gave the Eagles a 78-72 lead before a half-court bomb by UR's Michael Mangan at the buzzer closed out the game's scoring.

Emory connected on 42.4 percent (25 of 59) from the floor, including 41.7 percent (10 of 24) from three-point range, while Rochester converted 43.3 (26 of 60) from the field, 42.4 percent (14 of 33) from beyond the arc. Rochester recorded a 40-35 edge in rebounding with Trawick leading the Emory effort in that category with eight boards.

Rapp registered all of his 13 points during the opening 20 minutes of action, hitting five-of-eight field goal attempts, while Gigax totaled nine points in helping Emory to a 39-33 lead at the break.  The game was deadlocked at 33-33 with 2:23 left in the stanza before DaGue, Terry and Rapp all scored two points to fuel a 6-0 spurt to close out the half.