Juniors Romin Williams and Lawrence Rowley each totaled 21 points in leading the Emory men's basketball team to a Friday evening win at home over Methodist in the opening round of the NCAA D-III Tournament.  The No. 10-ranked Eagles won for the sixth time in the past seven outings and raised their overall record to 22-4 following a hard-fought 78-74 verdict over the Monarchs who closed out their year at 18-11.

Rowley sank seven-of-10 field goal attempts, including one trey, and six free throws in logging his sixth straight and 21^st double-figure scoring performance of the season. Rowley also paced all players with 12 rebounds and in the process chalked up his sixth double-double of the year.  Williams converted eight-of-19 from the floor en route to his 10^th contest of 20 or more points. Junior Matt Schner and sophomore Mason Johnson rounded out the squad's double-digit scorers with 12 points apiece.  Junior Luke Morrison came off the bench to give the squad some solid minutes with eight points and three rebounds.

Methodist trailed the Eagles by a 34-30 margin at halftime, but opened the second half by hitting seven of its first 10 field goal tries in posting a 15-4 charge that gave it a 45-38 lead with 14:26 left in the contest.  A three-pointer by the Monarchs' Dante Burden put the visitors ahead by a 50-45 count, but the Eagles regrouped to rattle off 15 unanswered points over a four-minute stretch, making the most of five missed MU shots and a pair of turnovers, to bolt to a 60-50 cushion. Rowley chipped in six points during the run while Williams added in five. The Monarchs answered with a run of their own, accounting for 10 of the game's next 12 points creep to within a pair with 4:45 on the clock.  After a bucket by Schner extended the Eagles' lead to four points, Methodist used four free throws by Kaymon Mitchell to knot the score at 64-64 with 3:47 left.  The Eagles were able to wrestle momentum back in their favor after dialing up eight straight points over a 96-second stretch, which saw Schner and Morrison hit triples and Williams a bucket, to claim a 72-64 margin with 1:45 left.  A MU three-pointer cut the deficit to five but Emory held off any comeback bid by scoring its final six points from the foul line.

Methodist held a slight edge in field goal shooting, hitting at a 44.6 percent (25-of-56) clip to Emory's 43.9 percent (29-of-66).  The Monarchs were successful on 35.3 percent (6-of-17) from long range compared to the Eagles' 29.2 percent (7-of-24).   Emory did enjoy a huge advantage on the glass, pulling down 45 boards to MU's 28. 

Emory's second-round opponent on Saturday will be Pomona-Pitzer (23-5), who opened the postseason by defeating Centre College, 84-64.  Action at the Woodruff PE Center starts at 7:30 pm.