The No. 3 ranked Emory University men's basketball used a second half surge to defeat Bowdoin College, 69-59, in the back half of the 2024 UAA Challenge in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Sunday afternoon.

Junior Ben Pearce matched a season-high with 26 points to go along with a career-best 12 rebounds as he notched his second career double-double. With his 26-point outing, Pearce became the 19th member of Emory's 1,000-point club.

Classmate Jair Knight added 15 points, doing most of his damage in the second half, and senior Logan Shanahan finished with 13 points, six rebounds and had four blocks for the third time this season.

With the win, the Eagles swept the UAA Challenge for the third consecutive season and helped the conference go 5-1 with two games to be played later on Sunday at Tufts. The Eagles now stand at 8-0 on the season, representing the third-best start to a season in program history, joining the 2011-12 team which went 12-0 and the 2019-20 squad that started 10-0.

Sunday afternoon started slow for both teams on the second game of the back-to-back. The Eagles missed their first eight shot attempts and saw the Polar Bears move ahead 6-0 to start the game as Emory was held scoreless for the first 5:12. 

Trailing Bowdoin to the start the game, the Eagles found themselves in a deficit for the first time in five games. Sophomore AJ Harris put down a dunk at the 14:48 for Emory's first basket and junior John Coppolino IV followed with fast break bucket off a steal to force at timeout at 6-4. 

Pearce nailed down Emory's first triple of the game after starting 0-for-5 from distance midway through the opening half. The three-pointer helped Pearce cross the 1,000-point milestone as he is the first Eagle to join the club since Matthew Schner did so during the 2021-22 season.

Despite shooting 27% in the first half, the Eagles led 31-28 at the break on the strength of Pearce's 14 first-half points.

Emory maintained its lead through the early stages of the second half and saw Bowdoin cut the lead to 44-42. However, a block from Shanahan leading to a Pearce and-one at the other end kick started a stifling stretch of basketball for the Eagles.

Spanning seven minutes of game action, Pearce and Knight combined for 18 points during Emory's 20-4 run and limited the Polar Bears to just one successful field goal as the Eagles' lead grew to as many as 18 points with 5:34 to play.

Bowdoin made a run late but proved to be ultimately inconsequential to provide 69-59 final.

The Eagles are now idle for the next three weeks for finals and the holidays before returning to action with Emory Holiday Classic on December 29-30 against Kean University and Union College in Atlanta.