St. Louis, Mo., Feb. 13, 2015 – Junior guard Luke Silverman-Lloyd tied a career-high with 20 points but it was not enough as the No. 14-ranked Washington University in St. Louis men's basketball team suffered a 93-87 loss at No. 20 Emory University Friday in Atlanta. The 93 points allowed are a season-high for Washington University.
Washington U. falls to 16-5, 5-5 in the University Athletic Association, while Emory improves to 16-5, 6-4 in the UAA. The Bears are tied for fourth place in the UAA standings, and two games back of first place University of Chicago with four games remaining.
Senior guard David Fatoki (16 points), senior forward Nick Burt (14 points, seven rebounds), senior forward Matt Palucki (14 points, 11 rebounds, six assists) and junior forward Mitch Styczynski (12 points) all scored in double figures for Washington U., which shot 51.5 percent (35-of-68) from the field and hit 7-of-13 threes.
Davis Rao had the hot hand for Emory scoring 11 of its first 15 points as the Eagles built a 15-10 lead five minutes into play. Washington U. answered back with a 10-1 run, fueled by seven points by Silverman-Lloyd. He connected on a three-pointer and had back-to-back jumpers as the Bears led 24-18.
Emory's leading scorer Alex Foster (20.8 ppg) picked up his second foul with 12:02 left in the first half and did not score in the opening 20 minutes of play.
Washington U. led by five (28-23) with 7:13 to play after a bucket by Burt, but a few missed lay-ups resulted in a 7-0 run as Emory got the lead back at 30-28 and forced a full timeout by WashU head coach Mark Edwards.
Out of the timeout, Silverman-Lloyd canned his second three on a fastbreak and then Fatoki scored on a floater to make it 35-32 and forced an Emory timeout. Rao and Jonathan Terry combined to score 11-straight points as Emory got the lead back and eventually took a 45-40 lead to half.
Silverman-Lloyd had 10 points to lead Washington U., who shot 48.6 percent (17-of-35) in the first half. Rao had 18 points on 4-of-4 three-point shooting to lead the Eagles, who hit seven threes and forced 10 turnovers.
Foster made his presence felt in the second half as he canned a three-pointer on the first possession, and then made a free-throw. The Eagles scored the first seven points of the second half and built a double-digit lead at 52-40.
Down by 13 (72-59) with less than 12 minutes to play, Washington U. scored nine-straight points to get the lead down to four and force a timeout by Emory. The Eagles led by four (74-70) when Burt picked an intentional foul. Rao made two free-throws, and then Will Trawick scored a bucket on the ensuing possession to make it an eight-point game.
Fatoki canned back-to-back threes to get the lead down to five (85-80) with less than three minutes remaining, and then a pair of free-throws by freshman Matt Highsmith made it a four-point game with 48 seconds left. The Eagles connected on four-straight at the line to seal the win.
Rao scored a career-high 27 points on 8-of-11 shooting from the field and 7-of-7 from the foul line, while Foster (18), Terry (16), Michael Florin (11) and Trawick (10) also scored in double figures. Emory connected on 11 threes and had 13 steals in the win.
Bear Notebook: Washington U. leads the all-time series with Emory, 45-11, and had its seven-game win streak snapped against the Eagles … Fatoki dished out five assists and moved into eighth on the WashU single season list … Washington U. is 3-1 this season against ranked teams … Emory entered the contest leading the UAA in points (79.7), steals (7.0) and threes (9.4) … WashU is 1-5 when trailing at half … The Bears are 16-2 when scoring 70 or more points … Palucki moved into 17th on the all-time scoring list with 1,166 points.