Emory men’s basketball advances to Sweet 16 in NCAA tournament
They beat Birmingham Southern 84-78 on Saturday
As Emory hosted the first two rounds of the NCAA Division III Tournament, the Eagles beat Covenant College by a score of 76-51 on Friday, setting up a showdown with Birmingham Southern on Saturday evening. In a tight contest, Emory pulled out an 84-78 victory in overtime, sending the team to the Sweet Sixteen for the third consecutive season.
The No. 25-ranked Eagles will face Augustana College in Illinois on Friday, March 11, but the time for the game has not yet been announced. Augustana, ranked No. 1, hosts the game.
Emory was tapped to host games for the first and second rounds of the NCAA D-III championship tournament.
Resources: Emory men’s basketball team
On Friday, March 4, the Eagles, led by head coach Jason Zimmerman, bested Covenant College here with a score of 76-51 to advance to the second round.
On Saturday, Emory registered an 84-78 overtime triumph over Birmingham Southern in the second round, also played at Woodruff PE Center in front of the home crowd, as the team battled back from a seven-point deficit with 6:39 remaining in regulation.
The game was tightly contested as the lead changed hands eight times and was tied at 11 different moments. Neither squad was able to put distance from the other as the largest lead in the game was Birmingham Southern’s 57-50 lead in the second half.
Emory’s Eagles answered with a 16-9 stretch of their own to tie the game at 66-66 with 1:38 to go in regulation. With the game tied again at 68, Birmingham Southern gained a two-point lead with 47 seconds remaining. Emory senior Davis Rao then made a clutch jumper from just inside the three-point line to tie the game at 70 with 34 seconds left.
In the overtime period, Birmingham Southern scored first, but Emory freshman Beau Bommarito made a three-pointer to give the Eagles the lead for good.
Rao led all scorers with 23 points on 8-of-10 shooting and was a perfect 5-for-5 from the line. Senior Will Trawick scored 20 points in 23 minutes and sophomore Adam Gigax (13) and junior Jonathan Terry (11) were the other Eagles in double figures. Gigax grabbed a team-high seven rebounds, and Rao and sophomore Whit Rapp dished out a team-best three assists.
An amazing success for the Eagles, congratulations team.