The No. 3 ranked Emory University men's basketball team scored 103 points for the second consecutive game as the Eagles led for the entirety of their 103-63 victory over Oglethorpe University Monday night in Atlanta.
Junior Ben Pearce dropped 25 points, his second-most in a game this season and most since his 26-point outing in the opener, as he led all Eagles in the scoring column. To go along with his 25 points, Pearce tied a season-high with seven assists and finished tied for the team lead with seven rebounds while shooting 10-for-18 from the floor and was 5-for-10 from beyond the arc.
Joining Pearce in double figures was classmate Jair Knight and sophomore Ethan Fauss with 14 points each while seniors Logan Shanahan and Cale Martens came through with 12 and 10 points, respectively. Knight and sophomore AJ Harris matched Pearce with seven boards while senior Albert Fallas dished out six assists.
As a team, the Eagles doled out 30 assists on the night – one shy of their program record of 31 established last season. Emory grabbed a season-best 57 rebounds as the team was +29 on the glass and went 42-for-78 – the sixth-most successful field goal attempts in a single game.
With the win, the Eagles stay unbeaten at 6-0 while the Stormy Petrels slip to 4-3. This is Emory's sixth-ever 6-0 start in team history and first since the 2019-20 squad opened the season at 10-0.
Despite reaching the century mark for the second straight game, the Eagles took a bit to get going as they led 11-10 at the 12:00 mark. A triple from Fauss at 11:50 started an 8-0 run for the Eagles as they extended their lead to 19-10 in just under two minutes of action. Emory would not trail by less than seven points for the remainder of the game and led by as many as 17 in the first half.
In the second half, Oglethorpe cut the deficit to as close as 12 at 53-41 with 15:09 remaining but a quick 16-5 over the next 3:38 with five different Eagles scoring buckets. The margin remained over 20 points before a 7-0 run from Oglethorpe made it a 73-57 game with 6:30 to play.
Over the final 6:23 minutes, the Eagles were relentless in pulling away as they outscored the Stormy Petrels 28-6, including a three-minute stretch where Oglethorpe went scoreless. Emory saw 35 of its 52 bench points in the game scored in the second half.
The Eagles look to keep rolling this weekend in Pittsburgh as they battle NESCAC foes #21 Middlebury and Bowdoin in the 2024 version of the UAA Challenge.
