The No. 1 ranked Emory men's basketball team (9-0, 0-0 UAA) returned to action on Sunday evening to take part in the Emory Holiday Classic at the Woodruff P.E. Center, taking on Kean (4-7, 3-2 NJAC) on the first day of the event. Emory dominated the Cougars to come away with a 93-66 win, with 13 different Eagles making their way into the scoring column. The win marks the first time in program history that the Eagles recorded a victory while ranked as the No. 1 team in the nation.
 
Junior guard Jair Knight led the Eagles in scoring, recording 20 points to go along with three boards and two blocks on the defensive end. His classmate, Ben Pearce, was lights out from beyond the arc, shooting four-of-seven from distance en route to an 18-point performance. Pearce added five assists to the ledger as well. Senior Logan Shanahan finished just shy of a double-double, tallying nine points and nine rebounds in the win.
 
The win puts Emory at an unblemished 9-0 to start its 2024-25 campaign, the third-best start to a season in program history. The current team trails the 2011-12 team which went 12-0 and the 2019-20 squad that jumped out to a 10-0 start to its season.
 
Prior to tip-off, the men's basketball program honored Pearce for becoming the 19^th player in program history to reach 1,000 career points. The junior reached the threshold in Emory's win over Bowdoin earlier this month when he scored 26 points against the Polar Bears.
 
Emory started red-hot against the Cougars, going on a 7-1 run over the opening two minutes of play. Pearce set the tone early for the Eagles, intercepting a pass and taking it to the hoop himself and finishing a layup through contact to compete a three-point play. The Eagles continued to land shots, including a couple of three pointers from Pearce and sophomore Ethan Fauss. With the strong start, the Eagles found themselves with a 20-9 lead at the 12-minute mark.
 
The Eagles really put their foot on the gas over the next eight minutes, going on a 22-7 run to pull away from the Cougars. A combination of strong buckets inside the paint and lights-out shooting from deep left Kean looking for answers on the defensive end. Freshman Will Otto converted a shifty layup to cap off the dominant Emory run.
 
With just over two-minutes left in the opening frame, freshman Mario Awasum slammed down an emphatic one-handed dunk to cap off the half. The Cougars converted a few shots down the stretch to cut into the Eagles' lead, but Emory still took a 48-27 lead into the break. Emory shot 50% from the field in the first half while knocking down five three-point shots.
 
The Eagles continued their offensive attack on the Cougars in the second half. Emory continued to utilize their size in the paint, converting a number of layups to open the half. Kean's offense began to find some luck, though, as D.J. Alicea continued to run the Cougars' offense. Alicea was sent to the line 16 times, knocking down 13 from the stripe to finish the game with 29 points.
 
Despite the strong showing from Alicea, Emory's offense came back alive with just under 11 minutes in the game as senior Albert Fallas sparked the team with three-pointers on back-to-back possessions to bring the score to 70-50. The teams continued to trade shots until Otto converted an and-one to bring the score to 75-54 with eight minutes left.
 
As the Eagles wrapped the game up, they decided one highlight reel dunk wasn't enough. With six minutes left, Fallas tossed a pass off the backboard as Knight soared through the air to finish a two-handed slam and put an exclamation point on the Eagles' decisive win.
 
Emory coasted the final few minutes to pull away with the 93-66 win. Emory finished with a strong 50 points in the paint, opposed to Kean's 26. Emory also held Kean to just one second chance point all game whereas the Eagles recorded 14.
 
The Eagles will conclude the Emory Holiday Classic on Monday when they take on the Union College Garnet Chargers. The meeting with Union will tip off at 4:00 PM at the Woodruff P.E. Center.