The No. 7 ranked Emory University men's basketball team earned a statement win Friday night in the opener of the Jay Bilas Classic, routing Christopher Newport University to the tune of 98-65 on the campus of Johnson & Wales University in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Junior Ethan Fauss paced a well-balanced Eagles attack with a career-high 24 points to go along with six rebounds and five blocks. Senior Ben Pearce notched 17 points while adding five rebounds and five assists and grabbed a team-high four steals. Sophomore Mario Awasum and senior Jair Knight joined them in double figures with 13 points each.
"Tonight was our most consistent effort for 40 minutes," Head Coach Jason Zimmerman said. "We did a good job of taking care of the basketball and got contributions from everyone. Now we look to playing a second game back-to-back and work on playing with a quick turnaround and prep."
Friday night was all Emory from the opening tip as the Eagles raced out to an 11-2 advantage within the first three minutes. CNU kept paced from there, keeping the score within single digits and trailed Emory 21-16 with 11:27 to go in the half, but a 6-0 run by Fauss and John Coppolino IV boosted the Eagles' lead to double digits for the first time on the evening.
Emory remained on the gas pedal as a three-pointer by Fauss with 3:08 to play put EU ahead by 17 before the Eagles closed the half on 8-4 run to head into the halftime break with its largest lead to that point at 52-31.
The second half saw more pressure from the Emory front with Fauss notching the opening points out of the break. The lead never dipped below 19 points across the final 20 minutes of action with the Eagles's final margin of 33 acting as the largest lead of the contest.
Eleven different Eagles found the scoring column in Emory's biggest win of the season with EU shooting 47.8% (33-for-69) from the floor. Emory held CNU to 34.8% from the floor and a dreadful 3-for-19 from beyond the arc.
The Eagles look to close out the Jay Bilas Classic on Saturday with a matchup against The College of New Jersey. Tip off from Charlotte is set for 5:00 PM.
