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Emory Edges Birmingham Southern

Emory Edges Birmingham Southern

From Emory University Athletics

Freshman Romin Williams scored 26 points in sparking the Emory men's basketball team to a Wednesday evening win at home over Birmingham Southern. The Eagles upped their record to 4-1 following a tight 91-86 decision over the Panthers who slipped to 1-5.

Williams closed out the night hitting seven-of-15 field goal attempts, including one three-pointer, and 11-of-12 from the charity stripe in registering his second straight 20-plus point game.  He also led all players with seven assists and chipped in three steals. Junior Beau Bommarito tallied 15 points, keyed by converting three treys in seven tries and all four of his opportunities at the stripe. Senior Adam Gigax rounded out Emory's double-figure scorers with 11 points.

An 8-2 Emory run, which saw freshman Matt Davet score the last six points, gave the Eagles a 64-57 lead with 10:19 left in the contest.  After a bucket by the Panthers' Harrison Deneka, who led all players with 28 points, a three-pointer by junior Gebereal Baitey boosted Emory to a 67-59 cushion with 9:22 on the clock. After BSC clawed back with seven straight points to draw to within 67-66, an Emory charity toss followed by a Gigax trey stretched Emory to a 71-66 margin. After the Panthers tied the game at 73-73, buckets by Williams and Baitey put the Eagles ahead by four points with 3:13 on the clock. Tied at 77-77, Emory rattled off six unanswered points, the last four by Williams, which gave it some breathing room at 83-77 with 1:37 left. After the teams traded two makes from the foul line, a three-pointer by Harrison Deneka with 26 seconds left kept the Panthers' hopes alive. However, Emory kept the BSC comeback bid in check by going six-for-six at the foul line over the final 20 seconds with Williams sinking four and Bommarito a pair.  The Eagles were a perfect 12-of-12 in the free throw shooting department over the final 5:45 of the game.

Birmingham Southern held the advantage in field goal percentage, converting 45.8 percent (33-72) vs. Emory's 38.5 percent (30-78). The Eagles sank 10-of-30 three-point tries to the Panthers' effort of 3-of-19, and also held an edge in free throw shooting, draining 21-of-27 while BSC sank 17-of-24.  BSC finished with a 48-46 edge in rebounding with Gigax pacing the Emory effort with seven boards.

In an up-and-down first half, the teams battled to a 43-43 draw heading into the break. A 10-3 Emory run that saw Williams score four points and Bommarito knock down a triple erased a one-point deficit and gave the Eagles a 23-17 edge with 9:57 left. Six straight points by the Panthers, capped by a tip-in by Jibri Loving, knotted the score, but Emory responded with a 7-0 blitz, finished off by a Gigax three-pointer to claim a 30-23 lead. A bucket by Williams with 6:20 on the clock maintained Emory's seven-point cushion and it still held a six-point margin, 38-32, with 4:14 on the clock after a basket by freshman Lawrence Rowley.

However, BSC closed out the half on an 11-5 run, with six points coming from Mateusz Rudak, to draw even. The Panthers outshot Emory, 47.6 percent (20-42) to 41.5 percent (17-41), but the Eagles did connect on 35.7 percent (5-14) of their three-point attempts compared to the visitor's 18.2 percent (2-11).  BSC grabbed 26 rebounds to Emory's 25 and snatched 11 offensive boards that led to 16 second-chance points. Williams led Emory with 12 points while Bommarito chipped in eight.  Harrison Deneka topped the Panthers with 13 points with Rudak adding a dozen on six-of-seven field goal shooting.