The Oglethorpe men's basketball team hung with a high-powered Emory team in the first half Monday night at the Woodruff P.E. Center in the Druid Hills neighborhood of Atlanta, trailing 48-36 at halftime to a team that began the season in the D3hoops.com top 15. The homestanding Eagles outscored the Stormy Petrels 45-32 in the second half, though, pulling away for a 93-68 victory in the first game of 2017 for both teams. The result dropped the Petrels to 4-8 on the season overall headed into SAA play.

Emory shot 52 percent from the field for the game, including 58 percent in the second half of play. They converted on 37 percent of their 3-point attempts. That compared with the Petrels' shooting marks of 38 percent overall and 33 percent from distance. The Eagles outrebounded Oglethorpe 45-30, leading to a 25-9 disparity in second-chance points.

Individually, the Petrels got 14 points on 4-of-8 shooting from senior guard Mike Turner, who also converted all five of his free throw attempts. Fellow senior guard George Andino also scored 14 points, doing so on 3-for-6 from long distance and 3-for-4 from the free throw line. Junior guard Chris Lawrence came up with 12 points on 4-for-9 from 3-point range, while sophomore center Tom Inungu led the squad with 9 rebounds.

The Eagles led the whole way, but the Petrels stayed in the game throughout the opening half. Emory got off to a 15-7 lead over the first seven minutes, but Oglethorpe came back with consecutive 3-pointers to cut the home team's advantage to just two, 15-13. Emory pushed their advantage to 11 points with an 11-2 run starting a couple minutes later, but Oglethorpe again mounted a comeback with seven consecutive points and pulled to within four, 29-25, with 7:33 until halftime. The Eagles extended their lead with a 14-6 run before halftime, though, building it to a 12-point edge at the break.

Emory continued their run in the second half, taking control of the game with a 10-0 run over a 2:35 stretch, pushing out to a 58-40 lead with 15:40 left. The two teams traded baskets over the middle portion of the half, but Emory put the game away late with an 18-6 stretch over 5:50. That gave them their largest lead of the game, 93-64, with 1:44 remaining.

"We have played a tough schedule, but that's the best team we will play all year, and they played like it," said Oglethorpe head coach Philip Ponder. "I though we competed well for about 18 minutes, but they pulled away at the end of the half and were too much for us in the second half. We played six or seven teams in our non-conference schedule that are good enough to win our league. Although we didn't do as well as I would have hoped in those games, I think the tough competition has prepared for SAA play."

With the non-conference season over, the Petrels now delve into the bulk of SAA play. They'll welcome Centre to Dorough Field House Friday at 8 p.m. in their SAA home opener, then take on Sewanee at the same venue Sunday at 3 p.m.