The No. 3 ranked Emory University men's basketball team officially opened its 2025-26 season Sunday afternoon as the Eagles raced by Piedmont University, 98-89, in Demorest, Georgia.
Senior Ben Pearce highlighted five Eagles in double figures with a team-high 23 points on 7-for-15 shooting and was 6-for-6 from the line. With his 23 points, Pearce passes former Eagle legend Matthew Schner (1,390) for seventh place on the school's all-time scoring list with 1,396 points as he begins his ascent up the career ladder.
"Always good to get our first win of the season," said Head Coach Jason Zimmerman. "We saw some good contributions from our bench today with strong minutes from Spencer, Will, Eli and Harris, while Ben's ability to control the game really helped us sent the tone and come home with the victory."
Coach Zimmerman also had good things to say about his post play, sophomore Mario Awasum and junior AJ Harris, as they were able to lead the Eagles on the glass with a 49-39 rebounding margin. The duo was equally impressive in their season debuts with Awasum notching a career-best 19 points on 9-for-16 shooting and corralled 11 rebounds. Harris dropped 11 points while grabbing a career-best 15 rebounds and tied Pearce with the team lead with six assists. He added a team-high three steals. Senior John Coppolino IV made his first career start and scored 12 points as he knocked down three triples and junior Spencer Hall led the reserve unit with 11 points in 28 minutes off the bench.
The Eagles had a strong first half where they outscored Piedmont 51-34 thanks in large part to the outstanding work on the glass as Emory had a 30-18 rebounding margin over the first 20 minutes. Eight different players scored at least one point in the half, including six players with at least six points, as the team shot 45.9 from the field. Harris grabbed 10 of his 15 boards in the opening period and matched Awasum with a team-leading nine points before the break.
The Lions got off to quick start as the teams returned from the locker room, going on a 9-4 run to cut the Emory lead to 55-43 with 17:17. However, three consecutive three-pointers from the corner by Coppolino and Pearce within a minute quickly pushed the Eagles ahead at 64-43 with 16:13 to play and forcing Piedmont to burn a timeout.
The momentum continued in the early goings of the second half as a three point by Harris Jackson extended the advantage to Emory's largest of the day at 73-48 with 13:22 left to play. The Eagles held at least a 20-point spread until just over 10 minutes to go when the Lions began to make their run.
Piedmont did not go quietly as a 19-9 run over eight minutes of game play brought the lead down to 13 points at 4:52 prior to Pearce sinking a triple to halt the Piedmont threat. Emory continued to lead by double digits and by as many as 17 with a Hall layup with 80 seconds remaining. A last-ditch flurry by the Lions saw them outscore the Eagles 9-2 in the closing moments prior to the game settling on its final nine-point margin.
Next up for the Eagles will be a trip to Chicago, Illinois next weekend for the Midway Classic at UChicago. Emory will take on Trinity (TX) on Saturday before a quick turnaround to face the Banana Slugs of UC-Santa Cruz on Sunday, November 16th.
