Emory Men's Basketball Rallies To Edge Maryville In Wild 103-99 Shootout -- Runs Record To 5-0

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The Emory men’s basketball trio of junior Austin Claunch, sophomore Alex Greven and freshman Jake Davis combined for 70 points Sunday afternoon in sparking the Eagles to a wild 103-99 come-from-behind win over Maryville College.  The victory boosts Emory’s overall record to 5-0 while the Scots slip to 2-3. 

Leading Emory’s high-octane attack was Claunch with 25 points, hitting nine-of-13 field goal shooting and all six of his free throw opportunities.  Claunch also doled out a school-record 12 assists, bettering the previous mark of 11, and also came up with four rebounds and one steal.  Greven totaled 24 points (20 in the second half), his second straight performance and third overall this year of 20 or more points, knocking down eight-of-14 from the floor as well as all six of his charity tosses.  Davis came up big off the bench, notching a season-high 21 points, converting seven-of-12 from the floor, and also posting a six-for-six performance from the foul line.  Davis also snatched a game-high nine rebounds, including five on the offensive end, in helping Emory to a final 31-23 edge on the glass.  It marked the first time since Jan. 8, 2005, that Emory had three players post 20 or more points in a game.

In a game that featured 14 ties and 18 lead changes, each squad turned in solid shooting efforts with Maryville actually holding an edge in that department, draining 57.4 percent from the floor (35-of-61), compared to Emory’s 56.7 percent (34-of-60). The Scots also were deadly from three-point range, converting 70.6 percent (12-of-17) of their attempts, while Emory checked in with a 44.4 percent (8-of-18) showing.  The Eagles made the most of their free throw attempts, sinking 27-of-31 tries, good for an 87.1 percent success rate.

Emory had to contend with a torrid-shooting Maryville club during the opening 20 minutes of play as the visitors shot 61.3 percent from the floor in taking a 55-43 edge into halftime.  Pacing the Scots in scoring in the first stanza was Eryk Watson and Milton Stanley with 14 points apiece.  Maryville held a slim 33-30 lead with 7:06 left in the half before an 8-0 spurt upped its lead to 41-30 4:57 remaining.  A three-point play by Davis, followed by a pair of foul shots by Corey Spraggins and a bucket by Claunch, helped Emory to a 7-2 run that cut the gap to six.  However, the Scots stretched its lead to a dozen when Stanley hit a jumper with five ticks on the clock.  Claunch totaled 15 first-half points while Davis added 10 for Emory.

Emory blitzed Maryville in the opening minutes of the second half, using several lethal fast-break buckets en route to a 14-2 outburst, with Greven scoring the first six points of that stretch, in tying the game at 57-57 with 15:53 left.  Over the next time minutes, the game waged back-and-forth with a total of seven ties and 10 lead changes.  Emory took the lead for good with 5:01 left when junior Alex Gulotta nailed a three-pointer that gave the Eagles an 82-80 edge.   Another trey by Gulotta with 4:00 on the clock gave the Eagles their then biggest lead of the game, 88-83, but back-to-back baskets by Milton enabled the Scots to narrow the margin to one point.   Leading by a slim 90-89 count with 2:36 remaining, the Eagles outpointed Maryville by a 7-2 margin, with Greven picking up five points in that run, to boost their lead to 97-91 with just 1:36 left on the clock. A pair of foul shots by Davis gave Emory a 101-96 lead but Maryville countered with a triple by Watson to draw to within two points with 13 seconds left.  However, Claunch sealed the outcome with a pair of free throws that closed out the game’s scoring.

Emory returns to action on Saturday (Dec. 4) when it hosts Methodist University in a 4:00 p.m. start.

NOTES – The 103 points scored by Emory represents the fourth time that a Zimmerman-coached team has reached or surpassed the 100-point plateau …Gulotta’s three treys this afternoon runs his consecutive games streak of at least one three-point field goal to 17, the eighth-longest mark in school history … In his last four games, Gulotta is shooting 70.5 percent (24-of-34) from three-point range … Emory’s 27 free throws is a season high and the most by the team since it converted 29 at home vs. Case Western last year (Jan. 10, 2010) … Over its last three games, Emory has converted 54-of-60 (90 percent) from the foul line … Prior to today’s contest, Claunch had shared the program’s record of 11 assists with Paul Damm (vs. Case, Dec. 3, 1988) and Anthony Mazzei (vs. Rust, Dec. 5, 1999).