The No. 2 ranked Emory men's basketball team (12-1, 2-0 UAA) traveled to New York, New York to take on a UAA foe in the No. 4 ranked NYU Violets at the John A. Paulson Center. Behind a strong finish in the first half, the Eagles earned yet another win over a ranked opponent, taking down the Violets, 77-65.
The win was a historic one, marking Head Coach
Jason Zimmerman's 300
th career win at the helm of the Emory University men's basketball program. Zimmerman stands alone as the program's all-time winningest coach with a record of 300-134. Zimmerman and the Eagles have soared to a 12-1 start this season, earning the attention of the national media which ranked them #2 overall heading into the weekend.
The win was fueled by a dominant offensive output from junior guard
Ben Pearce, who erupted for a season-high 28 points to go along with five assists. Senior big-man
Logan Shanahan was just shy of a double-double, coming in with 17 points and eight rebounds to finish the game. Sophomore
AJ Harris hauled in a single-game career-high 12 boards while recording eight points in the win as well.
The Emory offense was feeling itself to start the half, generating impressive ball movement to get shooters open looks from beyond the arc. The Eagles capitalized on the clean looks, knocking down three of five from beyond the arc in the opening five minutes with Pearce rattling home two and Shanahan adding the third. Pearce seemingly couldn't miss in the opening frame, adding a few acrobatic jumpers down low to score 10 points in the opening eight minutes. Shanahan and Pearce scored 15 of Emory's first 17 points.
Meanwhile, the NYU offense, which shot 39.3% from deep heading into the game, shot just one-for-seven from three-point range in the opening nine minutes. NYU's Tristan How knocked down a three at the 11-minute mark to end the drought and bring the Violets within just four with Emory holding a 19-15 advantage.
Both squads experienced a bit of a scoring drought over the next three minutes, trading misses.
Jair Knight joined the party with just less than eight minutes in the half, knocking down a three-point shot for his first points of the game. The three-pointer from Knight kickstarted what would be a 19-9 run for Emory over the final 7:40 of the half where the team shot 80% from the field and knocked down two-of-four shots from beyond the arc. To add some flair, Pearce found Knight trailing on a breakaway for yet another highlight-reel dunk in the middle of the dominant Emory run.
The Eagles kept the NYU offense at bay, holding the Violets to two-of-seven shooting from the field while forcing five turnovers. Emory scored 15 points off turnovers in the first half, opposed to NYU's six. The strong end to the half saw Emory take a 41-30 lead into the break, their largest lead of the frame. Pearce led all scorers with 15 at the break, while Shanahan finished with 10 and Knight with nine.
The Violets came out of the break and seemed to seize control of the pace of play in the second half. NYU cut into the lead, outscoring Emory 7-3 in the opening moments of the half. Yet, after the strong start for NYU, the Eagles responded with an 8-2 run of their own to keep a stranglehold of the lead.
The Eagles maintained an 11-point lead as the two teams traded blows over the next couple of minutes. At the nine-minute mark, though, the Eagles put their foot on the gas. Senior
Albert Fallas knocked down a three pointer from near the logo before Pearce stole a pass and found Harris in transition to extend the Emory lead to 57-41 – their largest lead of the game.
NYU struggled from beyond the arc in the second half, shooting just one-of-nine from three in the first 14 minutes. Yet, a couple of threes from NYU's Brock Susko brought the Violets' offense back to life. The Violets began to chip into the Emory lead as they began to see shots fall, coming within four points with 1:20 left in the game after converting an and-one. Yet, the Eagles knocked down their foul shots down the stretch to put water on the Violets comeback attempt.
The win marks Emory's fifth win over an opponent ranked at the time of the contest, including a 3-0 record against teams ranked inside of the top-10. The Eagles improve to 12-1 on the year and an unblemished 2-0 in UAA-play.
The Eagles will conclude their trip to the northeast on Sunday when they take on the Brandeis Judges at the Red Auerbach Arena in Waltham, Massachusetts. The game against the Judges will tip off at 1:30 PM.
