The Piedmont College men's basketball team closed out the pre-Christmas portion of its fall schedule this afternoon with a hard-fought 96-87 victory at Emory University in Atlanta, GA.  The Lions wrapped up the game with an 11-3 run to close out their second victory of the season.

The host Eagles (4-4) took a seven point lead 30-23 with just over eight minutes remaining in the half only to see the Lions respond with an 8-0 run to take a one-point lead.  PC would eventually take 42-40 advantage into intermission, setting the stage for a hard-fought second half that featured nine ties and eight lead changes.

After the Lions took an 85-80 edge with 3:19 remaining, Emory would draw to within 85-84 with 2:35 on the clock. However, that was as close as the Eagles would get as Piedmont closed out the game with an 11-3 run as Emory missed its last seven field goal attempts.

The Lions, who had been plagued by turnovers this season, were sloppy in the first half with 17 turnovers but corrected to only give away five in the second half including none in the game's final 10:18.  The game's rebounding ledger was even at 34 apiece, but PC gained an advantage at the free throw line making 25-31 compared to EU's 13-17. 

J.C. HEREBIA led all scorers with a season-high 28 points on 12-15 from the floor in only 22 minutes of action.  MICHAEL RUBIO added 18 points including three three-pointers while teammates Sam Coppage (12) and JOSH HAYMORE (10) rounded out the double-figure scorers for PC.

The young Lions have played seven of their first nine games of the season on the road and will return to the highway on December 29-30 when the team travels to Danville, KY to take part in Centre College's Papa John's/Country Hearth Inn Classic.  PC will face the host Colonels, ranked 16th in the latest D3Hoops national poll, on Monday at 7:00 PM.