St. Louis, Mo., January 29, 2012 – Senior Dylan Richter poured in a career-high 33 points on nine three-pointers to lead the Washington University in St. Louis men's basketball team to a 99-88 upset win over No. 4 ranked Emory University on Sunday afternoon at the WU Field House in St. Louis.
Richter connected on 9-of-13 three-pointers in the victory, and upper his career point to 981. He is just 19 points shy of becoming the 20th player in school history to record 1,000 or more points. Freshman Matt Palucki recorded his first career double-double with a career-high 19 points and 10 rebounds, while sophomore Chris Klimek added 15 points and eight rebounds in the win.
Austin Claunch had the hot hand early on for Emory with eight points, and his second three-pointer of the half gave the Eagles a 20-12 with 12:25 to play. After a timeout by Washington U. head coach Mark Edwards, the Bears answered with a 25-4 run to grab a double-digit lead at 37-24.
Richter had 15 points during the first-half run by Washington U., including four-straight three-pointers that were assisted by sophomore Alan Aboona. Emory trimmed the lead to 37-30 with 2:07 to play, but a pair of free-throws by Richter and seven-straight points by Palucki in the final 91 seconds gave WUSTL the 46-33 lead at half.
Richter led all scorers with 21 points on 5-of-7 shooting from three-point range, as Washington U. shot 50 percent (18-36) from the field in the opening half. Aboona diced up the Emory defense with 10 assists in the first half of play.
Richter continued his offensive surge with a pair of three-pointers in the opening three minutes of the second half to keep the lead in double figures. He buried his third triple of the half with 14:26 to play to extend the lead to 61-46. Palucki scored on a lay-up and then a three-pointer by junior Ben Hoener gave Washington U. its largest lead of the game (68-50) with 11:43 to play.
Emory, who was swept on the Midwest trip after achieving its highest ranking in school history, trimmed the advantage to five (82-77) with 3:32 remaining after back-to-back three's from Claunch and Jake Davis. That was as close as the Eagles would get, following a pair of free-throws and a bucket from Palucki that got the lead back to nine. Washington U. hit 15-of-24 free-throws in the final 3:14 of the game.
Claunch (23 points, nine assists), Davis (16 points), Michael Friedberg (15 points) and Alex Greven (13 points) all scored in double figures for Emory, which dropped to 15-3, 4-3 in conference play. The Eagles shot 43.3 percent from the field and hit 13 three-pointers in the loss.
Washington U. shot 51.7 percent (31-60) from the field and hit a season-high 11 three-pointers and 26 free-throws in the victory. Aboona finished with a career-high 12 assists and just one turnover, as Washington U. had 24 assists and outrebounded Emory, 52-31.
Washington University (14-4, 6-1 UAA) begins the second half of conference play on Friday, Feb. 3, at the University of Rochester. Game time is set for 8 p.m. (ET) at the Palestra in Rochester, N.Y.
Bear Notebook: The Bears are 9-1 at home this season … Washington University has won 80 of its last 86 games when leading at the half … Washington U. leads the all-time series with Emory, 39-10, and snapped a two-game losing streak to the Eagles … The Bears are 3-2 against ranked teams, with all three wins coming at home … Hoener improved his UAA-leading field goal percentage in conference games to 73.5 percent (25-34) … The Bears swept both the preseason favorites at home this weekend … Washington U. turned 15 offensive rebounds in to a 15-3 advantage in second-chance points … The conference win for the Bears' was their 260th all-time, most in UAA history.