Emory Men Keep Win Streak Alive

The Eagles (7-2, 16-4) won their third consecutive contest on Sunday afternoon.

The Eagles edged New York University (1-8, 12-8) 93-85 at the . Emory has now picked up wins in seven of their last eight games since dropping their conference opener on January 8.

The Eagles dominated the first half of play, shooting 46.7 percent from three-point land.

The Violets kept up with Emory and were trailing just 36-32 with 4:40 remaining in the opening half, but Emory turned it on to finish the remaining four minutes on a 13-2 run and went into the locker room up 49-34.

Despite a 15 point lead at halftime, NYU came back to make things interesting.

The Violets cut the deficit to a three-point game with 1:40 left on the clock. But Emory began answering NYU’s attempts shot for shot as time expired.

“We were a step behind defensively. They ran a good offense and then we quit attacking offensively with about four minutes to go. It’s like the prevent defense in football,” Jason Zimmerman, Emory head coach said.

With 55 seconds on the clock, the Violets hit a shot to make it an 86-83 game.  

Emory point guard Austin Claunch brought the ball across mid-court and looked around for an opening. Instead of passing, the junior called his own number and drained a big three pointer with 27 seconds left, giving the Eagles a six point lead.

“He’s pretty good. He makes our jobs as coaches a lot easier,” Zimmerman said. “But I enjoy giving the ball to him when he’s on the court… It was a play that gives him a lot of options. It’s a big shot, he wanted to take it and he drilled it. Would I have drawn it up that way? Well it went in, so yeah.”

The shot was one of many long three pointers on the day for the Eagles.

Emory shot 46.4 percent from beyond the arc and found themselves successful stepping back from even further than usual.

“I think that goes back to confidence,” Zimmerman said. “The confidence we have in them and the confidence they have to make shots. Justin (Resnick) hit three big threes in the second half and stretched it out. And Austin of course hit that big one there (at the end). They know what a good shot is and when they know they have a good shot they step up and take it.”

NYU called a timeout to setup a play after the Claunch three pointer. Emory’s Michael Friedberg blocked the first shot attempt. Andy Stein then missed another shot in the paint turning the ball over. With 6.6 seconds left, Emory’s Alex Greven was fouled. He hit both free throw attempts to put the game away.

“We had to make some big plays to win the game. A.G. and Austin hit big shots to keep us always at a distance,” Zimmerman said.

NYU’s Stein and Kyle Stockmal led all scorers with 20 points.

On the winning end, Claunch led the Emory charge once again with 19 points, 12 assists and six rebounds. Jake Davis also tallied 19 points, Greven added 18 and Alex Gulotta went for 14.