After rattling off 20 wins in the regular season, the Emory men's basketball team had the benefit of playing in front of a home crowd in the opening two rounds of the NCAA Tournament. After handily winning the first round against Huntingdon, the Eagles took on Berry at the Woodruff P.E. Center with a spot in the Sweet 16 on the line on Saturday night. While the Vikings gave Emory their best, the Eagles' size and physicality prevailed as Emory punched its ticket to the Sweet 16 with an 84-68 win.
 
The win secured Emory its first Sweet 16 berth since the 2018 season and the sixth time in program history. It is the fifth time that the Eagles have made it through the first weekend under Head Coach Jason Zimmerman. While the Eagles didn't have to travel, the last few times they hosted the NCAA Tournament, things did not go their way. After the win, Zimmerman stated that he was proud of the way his team responded and was happy to get a win on their home court.
 
"This group is battle-tested and ready for some of the tests we have," Zimmerman said. "I've been in this room a couple times with tears flowing. So, it's nice to come in this room after this performance with these guys."  
Senior Logan Shanahan dominated on Saturday evening, using his size to his advantage as he posted a postseason double-double with 22 points and 16 rebounds. Shanahan also made history in the win, scoring his 1,000^th career point in an Eagle uniform, the 21^st player in program history to accomplish the feat. Junior Ben Pearce was the co-leader in the points column, also scoring 22 points to go along with five assists and four steals. Sophomore Spencer Hall stepped into the starting lineup and shined, scoring 11 points and grabbing seven rebounds.
 
The Eagles did not get out to the start they would have liked, though, failing to score any points in the opening three minutes while shooting one-of-six from the field. Luckily for Emory, Berry was still finding its footing as well as the score was just 5-4 after three minutes of play.
 
The two offenses began to find some success over the next few minutes, with Emory leading 15-14 with 10 minutes remaining in the opening half.
 
Over the final eight minutes of the frame, it was a dominant 23-8 Emory run with Pearce and Shanahan combining for 15 points over the run. The Eagles defense stepped up over the run too, holding the Vikings to two-of-12 shooting from the field. Emory took a 40-25 lead into the break, holding the Vikings to 24.1% shooting from the floor. The Eagles' physicality down low was on full display in the opening half as well, out-rebounding the Vikings 29-17.
 
Sophomore AJ Harris got the second frame started with an exclamation point, rattling home a three pointer on back-to-back possessions to give Emory a 21-point lead just moments after coming out of the break. Berry clawed its way back in, though, going on a 12-5 run to bring the score to 48-37 with 14 minutes showing on the clock.
 
Emory answered the Vikings' run with an 11-3 run of their own over the next two minutes to reopen the lead to 59-40 at the 12 minute mark. The Eagles continued to utilize their size to their advantage and win the battle in the paint.
 
The Vikings continued to try and work their way back in, but the Eagles continued to match. Emory's lead never shrunk below 13 points over the final 10 minutes as the Eagles iced away an 84-68 victory on their home court.
 
Ultimately, the Eagles were more physical than the Vikings as they won the rebound battle 55-30 and scored 44 points in the paint. Emory also grabbed an astounding 26 rebounds on the offensive end, while the Vikings mustered just 10.
 
Emory will now shift its focus to the Mary Washington Eagles, who advanced to the Sweet 16 with an 86-81 win over Ramapo in the second round. The battle of the Eagles is set to take place at 4:45 PM ET on Friday, March 14th, in Middletown, Connecticut on the campus of Wesleyan University.