From Emory University Athletics
On a historic night that saw senior Adam Gigax become the 15th player in program history to reach the 1,000-point plateau, the Emory men's basketball team battled its way to a victory over Transylvania University on the final day of action at the Emory Classic. The Eagles captured their fourth straight win and boosted its record to 8-2 following an 87-83 verdict over the Pioneers who dipped to 8-3.
Needing 10 points to reached the coveted mark, Gigax closed out the game with 15 points, sinking four-of-nine field goal attempts, including a pair of three-point field goals, and all five free throw opportunities. After scoring eight first-half points, Gigax's second of two makes at the charity stripe with 12:50 left in the game enabled him to chalk up his 1,000th point.
Freshman Romin Williams led all players with a season-high tying 26 points, knocking down six-of-seven triple opportunities along with eight makes at the foul line in registering his eighth double-digit scoring performance in nine outings. His six treys represented the high-water mark by an Emory player this season and tied the 11th-highest individual game total in school history. Senior Christopher Avant and junior Gebereal Baitey each chipped in 13 points, with Baitey doling out career-best seven assists and Avant pocketing his third double-double of the campaign with a game-high tying 11 rebounds.
With the score knotted at 50-50 early in the second half, the Eagles used a 7-0 spurt, with all of those points coming at the foul line and Williams going five-for-five during that stretch, to claim a 57-50 advantage with 14:29 remaining. After the Pioneers eventually drew to within three points, the Eagles exploded with a 14-0 blitz, ignited by a Williams three pointer and further fueled by five points by Gigax in ballooning its margin to 78-61 with 6:32 on the clock. Transylvania then used a big run of its own, taking advantage of five Emory turnovers and four missed field goal tries in scoring 14 of the game's next 15 points to creep to within four points with 2:22 on the clock. However, the Eagles were able to hold off TU's comeback bid for the remainder of the game, scoring their final eight points from the charity stripe with senior Whit Rapp converting all four of his opportunities and Baitey three of four.
The Pioneers concluded the game with an edge in field goal shooting, hitting 46.9 percent (30-64) of their attempts from the floor vs. Emory's 45.7 percent (21-46). The Eagles used the three-point shot to their advantage, knocking down 11 in 18 attempts for a 61.1 success rate, while TU was just 23 percent (5-21) from distance. Emory made 34 free throws (tying the school's sixth-highest total) in 44 attempts compared to the Pioneers' 18-of-27 from the stripe. Both squads grabbed 34 rebounds.
With Williams successful on all five of his three-point attempts and totaling 16 points, the Eagles took a 43-42 lead into halftime. Emory held four double-digit leads during the opening 20 minutes of play, the last one with 5:47 left in the stanza when a Williams' triple gave them a 31-21 lead. The Pioneers scored seven straight points in an 85-second span to slice their deficit to three points. Another three-pointer by Williams kept Emory ahead by five points with 1:39 left, but TU scored the final four points of the half.