The No. 1 ranked Emory University men's basketball team was handed its first loss of the season Saturday afternoon as the Eagles fell 83-76 on the road to No. 18 ranked Christopher Newport University at the Freeman Center in Newport News, Virginia.

Emory will now head into conference play with a 10-1 overall record with the defeat halting the Eagles' 11-game winning streak dating back to the end of the 2023-24 season. For the Captains, they earned their fourth consecutive win to improve to 13-3. The win also marks the first for Christopher Newport in the series after dropping the first two meetings.

Junior Ben Pearce led five Eagles in double figures with 20 points while adding a season-high eight assists, five rebounds and two steals. Senior Cale Martens had 15 points off the bench and corralled five rebounds. Senior Logan Shanahan and junior Jair Knight both collected double-doubles with Shanahan posting 14 points and 10 rebounds to go along with three blocks and Knight going for 13 points and 10 rebounds and added team-highs with four blocks and three steals.

For CNU, Jahn Hines was one of four starters in double figures with a team-leading 19 points with Tyson Henderson and Toa Hollenbeck going for 18 and 17 points, respectively. The Captains outshot the Eagles 44.0% to 33.8% from the floor while both teams were held under 35% from beyond the arc with Christopher Newport shooting 5-for-14 from long range and Emory knocking down eight of its 30 attempts from distance.

The Captains were physical inside the lane with a 42-28 margin in points in the paint whereas Emory won the battle on the glass, 51-46, including an 18-13 mark in offensive rebounding.

The game opened with Emory recording the first two buckets inside the first 83 seconds but CNU responded after being held scoreless for the first two minutes with a 10-0 run before Martens knocked down a turnaround jumper at 14:35 to snap a string of seven straight misses for the Eagles and started a stretch of six consecutive points for the Emory big man.

CNU used that opening run to hold its distance from the Eagles in the early stages as Emory started slow from the floor, shooting 5-for-17 and were 0-for-6 from long range prior to a Shanahan triple that made the score 20-15 ahead of a timeout at 10:33.

After trailing 24-18 at the under eight-minute timeout, sophomore AJ Harris converted a layup before Pearce drilled a wide open three-pointer to bring Emory to within one at 24-23 at 5:58 while continuing to hold the Captains scoreless for over four minutes. Harris gave Emory its first lead since the opening minutes as a steal leading to an and-one opportunity with 4:28 remaining pushed the Eagles in front at 26-25.

Hines then took over for CNU prior to the break, putting Christopher Newport ahead at 27-26 with a layup, breaking a stretch of 11 straight misses from the floor for the home team. The layup started a 6-0 burst for the Captains before another layup from Harris ended the run.

Hines had six of CNU's next eight points prior to a Pearce jumper before timeout with 90 seconds left in the half made it 33-30. Martens would score the final four points for the Eagles in the half including a bucket within the closing seconds to make the score 35-34 CNU as the teams headed into the locker rooms. Martens led all scorers in the half with 10 points while Hines tallied nine to lead CNU.

Out of the break, Pearce netted the first nine points for Emory but the Captains rattled off a 9-0 run following Pearce's first basket of the half to move ahead at 44-36 and forcing the Eagles to play catch up for most of the period.

Following a Pearce triple to make it 46-43, Christopher Newport used an 8-2 run to go in front by multiple possessions and held at least a two possession lead for the next nine minutes of game action.

The Captains seized their largest lead of the afternoon with a 12-point cushion with 7:35 remaining but a three-pointer from Shanahan in front of the eight-minute timeout helped begin the Emory comeback.

Trailing 67-58 with 5:11 left to play, the Eagles used a 14-5 spurt over the next 2:36 to level the score at 72-72. Martens scored his first points of the second half during the run with a corner three followed by a pair of free throws to bring Emory to within three at 72-69. On the ensuing Eagles possession, Knight pulled up from distance and converted his second triple of the game to tie the game with 2:35 left to play.

Miscommunication left Henderson open to knock down a three-pointer of his own on the next CNU possession to give the Captains a 75-72 lead prior to him coming up with the theft on the other end.

After a CNU miss, Shanahan made it a one-point game again with a spinning dribble lay in to make it 75-74 with 1:36 left but a Hasan Hammad jumper inside the arc pushed CNU's edge back to three with 1:18 to go.

With under a minute to play, a steal from Hines in Emory's offensive zone led to a driving layup on the other end as he gave CNU a 79-74 advantage.

The Eagles saw their last points come from Pearce at the line with 25 seconds remaining but Emory would miss its final five shot attempts inside the final minute while the Captains converted all four of their attempts at the line to close out the victory. 

With the conclusion of the non-conference slate, the Eagles will now turn their attention to University Athletic Association competition next Saturday, January 11th, hosting the University of Rochester in Atlanta. Tip-off for the UAA opener is set for 1:00 PM at the WoodPEC.