The Emory men's basketball team celebrated its first national ranking by D3hoops.com Tuesday evening by posting a well-earned 80-67 triumph at Covenant College.  The victory upped the Eagles' record to 7-0 while the Scots slipped to 1-6.

Earlier in the day, Emory, off to its best start since 2003-04, found out that it held down the No. 24 spot in the D3hoops.com Top 25 Poll, the first time in program history that it had cracked the Top 25 after receiving votes in 2004 and during the 2009-10 campaign. The D3hoops.com Poll originated during the 1999-2000 season.

As for the game, the Eagles used a fine shooting display in the second half, hitting 53.6 percent (15-of-28), while holding Covenant to 39.3 percent (11-of-28), outpointing the host team, 44-29, which wiped out a 38-36 halftime deficit.  Emory concluded the contest hitting on an even 50 percent from the floor (26-of-62) while Covenant checked in with a 43.1 percent effort (25-of-58).  The Scots held a slim advantage in three-point shooting but the Eagles countered that with another strong effort at the charity stripe, sinking 20-of-23, good for an 87.0 percent mark, compared to Covenant's 55.6 percent (10-of-18) showing.

Emory spread out its scoring attack with five players registering double figures, led by freshman Jake Davis, who topped the team with 18 points, his third straight and fourth double-digit performance of the season.  Davis was successful on six-of-eight from the field and converted all six of his free throw opportunities. He also helped Emory to a 35-29 margin on the glass, coming up with a team-high six boards.  Junior Corey Spraggins broke through with his biggest offensive display of the year with a season-high 14 points while junior Austin Claunch also finished with 14 points.  Rounding out the team's double-figure scorers were sophomore Alex Greven and junior Alex Gulotta with 13 and 12 points, respectively.

After falling behind by four points, 42-38, early in the second half, the Eagles ran off a 9-0 tear, with five points from Greven and four from Claunch to post a 47-42 lead.  After a Covenant bucket, Emory kept the pressure on, going on an 11-2 spurt en route to taking a 58-46 margin with 10:51 left.  Four different players scored in that stretch including Spraggins who picked up five points.  Covenant battled back to within five points at 62-57 with 6:56 remaining following a basket by Joey Danek, but Emory answered the charge by scoring nine unanswered points, the last four by Claunch, to zoom to a 71-57 advantage with 4:48 left.  From there, the closest Covenant would get would be 11 points.

Emory returns to action on Dec. 16 when it plays at LaGrange College.