Senior Adam Gigax topped all players with a season-high 21 points in leading the Emory men's basketball team to a Thursday afternoon win over Illinois Wesleyan in the opening game of the Emory Classic.  The Eagles won for the third straight time and raised their record to 7-2 following a 72-56 decision over the Titans who slipped to 8-3.

Gigax ended the day sinking six-of-11 field goal attempts, including four treys in seven attempts, en route to his eighth double-figure effort in as many outings this year. His performance pushed his career total to 990 points heading into Friday afternoon's match-up against Transylvania.  Senior Whit Rapp and junior Beau Bommarito each chipped in 12 points, with Rapp doling out five assists and Bommarito pacing the team's rebounding effort with a career-high eight boards.

A 10-3 run by the Titans to open the second half erased a six-point Emory halftime advantage and gave the visitors a 36-35 edge with 18:08 left in the contest.  The Eagles responded with an 8-0 spurt, ignited by back-to-back triples by Gigax, to reclaim the lead at 43-36, but IWU answered with seven straight points to knot the battle at 43-43 with 13:42 on the clock.  After a pair of charity tosses by IWU's Alex O'Neill cut an Emory advantage to four points, the Eagles rattled off seven consecutive points, the final six coming on back-to-back treys by Bommarito within a 23-second stretch, to bolt to a 58-47 cushion. After a Titans bucket, Bommarito scored on a layup to push Emory's lead back to 11 points with 6:42 remaining.  IWU drew to within eight points, but the Eagles scored the game's next six points to extend their margin to 68-54 with 3:06 left.

For the game, Emory connected on 41.4 percent (23-56) of its field goal attempts, including 31.8 percent (7-22) from distance.  After converting just 32.3 percent during the opening 20 minutes of play, the Eagles stepped it up in the second stanza and sank 52 percent (13-25) from the floor.  Illinois Wesleyan concluded the contest 32.2 percent (19-59) from the field, the second-lowest Emory opponent total this season, and was successful on just 21.4 percent (6-28) from three-point range.  With senior Donald Avant and freshman Matt Davet complementing Bommarito's play on the glass with seven boards apiece, Emory finished with a 41-33 advantage in rebounding.  IWU registered 17 turnovers and Emory 16, but the Eagles parlayed the Titans' miscues to 19 points compared to the visitor's nine points off the Eagles' mistakes.

Emory will play Transylvania at 4:00 pm on Friday with Illinois Wesleyan meeting Birmingham Southern at 2:00 pm.