The Emory University men's basketball team's season came to a dramatic end Saturday night as the Eagles fell to Wesleyan University, 61-58 in overtime, in the NCAA Elite 8 played at Silloway Gymnasium on the campus of Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut.

Emory erased a second half deficit of 13 points to force overtime and had a final chance to tie the game at the end of overtime, but in the end, it was the Cardinals which earned a berth to the Final Four next week in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Wesleyan (30-1) will advance to the national semifinals on Thursday, March 20th with a rematch against Trinity (CT).

One of the most successful seasons in Emory men's basketball history, which featured the team's first-ever No. 1 ranking, 20-plus wins for the 10th time, the program's second-ever appearance in the Elite Eight, ends at 23-6 overall with the 23 victories tied for the second-most by an Eagles team in a single season.
Junior Ben Pearce led the Eagles in scoring on the night with 20 points – his third straight game with 20 or more points in the postseason and his 13th game with at least 20 this season. Classmate Jair Knight finished with 17 points, nine rebounds and four steals. Senior Logan Shanahan and freshman Mario Awasum excelled on the glass combining for 25 of the team's 48 rebounds with Shanahan grabbing a game-high 14 to go along with nine points.

The Cardinals took advantage of playing in front of its home crowd, scoring the game's first eight points and led 8-0 before Pearce's first three-pointer of the evening put Emory on the scoreboard at the 16:36 mark.

Wesleyan maintained its lead until deep in the first half when before a 5-0 run, highlighted by a three-pointer from sophomore AJ Harris, tied the score for the first time at 22-22 with 2:50 remaining until the break. However, the Cardinals outscored Emory 5-1 in the closing moments to take a 28-23 lead into the locker room.

In the return to action, Wesleyan quickly turned a five-point lead into a 13-point margin with 12-4 scoring spurt across the opening 4:30 and were in front 40-27 at the first media timeout.

The Eagles chipped away to make it a six-point deficit but the Cardinals responded and had another double-digit edge with a 52-40 score with 7:14 left to play in regulation.

Unlike Friday night when Emory nearly squandered a 12-point cushion, the Eagles were the ones to fight back from the deficit and used a 9-0 run with points from Knight, Shanahan and Harris to bring the score to 52-49 ahead of the four-minute mark.

 Trailing 56-53 inside the final minute, Pearce earned a physical and-one with his drive to the basket and leveled the score at 56 on Emory's final possession of the second half. With the score even, Wesleyan had one final chance to win it in regulation as the team drew up a play to get Jackson Cormier a shot from the top of the arc. Cormier's attempt rattled off the rim and fell off as the buzzer sounded to send the game into overtime.

Harris netted the first basket of the extra period just 17 seconds in but an answer triple by Nicky Johnson pushed the Cardinals back in front within the first minute of OT.

Neither side could find the bottom of the net as overtime continued with the score remaining at 59-58 prior to Johnson knocking down a pair of free throws with under two seconds left on the clock.

Down by three, the Eagles drew up one final possession with 0.8 seconds to go. Harris tossed the inbounds pass to Knight who was able to get off an attempt prior to the final buzzer but his game-tying three-point attempt hit the front of the rim and out, giving Wesleyan the three-point win.