(Feb. 17) Emory University (10-13, 3-9 UAA) celebrated its Senior Night with an 88-74 upset victory over No. 20 Carnegie Mellon (18-5, 8-4 UAA) in the Woodruff Physical Education Center.
Senior Jeff Hall led all scorers with 27 points, including four three-pointers. He added five rebounds and a dished a team-high three assists while playing nearly the entire game.
Hall has scored 20 or more points in seven of his 14 games played this season.
Seniors Steven Swearingen and Robbie Wizenberg contributed to the Emory win with solid play. Swearingen grabbed two rebounds and dished out two assists in the contest. Wizenberg had two boards and one assist.
Sophomore Spiros Ferderigos scored 18 points and led the game with four steals. He made nine of his 11 free throw attempts.
Freshman Johnny Pinto scored 10 points and led the team with six rebounds. He has scored in the double digits in 10 games this season.
Carnegie Mellon’s A.J. Straub led the Tartans with 18 points on four for nine shooting from beyond the arc. Bary Dunn matched his 18 points on eight for 14 shooting from the field and seven rebounds.
The Tartan’s Clayton Barlow-Wilcox led the team with eight rebounds and six assists before fouling out late in the second half.
Emory overcame a 45-36 deficit at the half with strong defensive play, holding Carnegie Mellon to 23.8% shooting from the field and forcing 11 turnovers in the second half. Emory shooters came alive with 14 for 27 shooting from the field, including 50% from three-point range.
Gordon McKemie personally led a 6-0 Eagle run to swing the momentum firmly in the Eagles’ favor. He scored six points in 50 seconds including a dunk to put Emory in the lead 64-57 with 7:42 left in the game.
Hall made two three pointers with 3:41 left to give the Eagles a 79-67 lead and put the game out of reach.
With tonight’s win over the Tartans and a 93-77 victory over New York University on Feb. 5, The Eagles have now knocked off two of the top teams in the highly competitive University Athletic Association. Carnegie Mellon entered the game first place in the UAA standings and NYU entered tonight’s game in a second-place tie.
The Eagles play their last home game of the year on Sunday at 12:30 p.m. against University of Rochester.