Emory University men's basketball senior stalwarts Ben Pearce and Jair Knight have been named to the Bevo Francis Award Top 50 Watch List presented by Small College Basketball over the weekend.

The announcement comes on the heels of the dynamic duo being named to the award's Top 100 Watch List in mid-January and the Trevor Hudgins Award Top 25 Watch List earlier this month.

The 2026 Bevo Francis Top 50 Watch List is comprised of the top players from across NCAA Division II and III, NAIA, USCAA and NCCAA. Pearce and Knight are among 13 players from Division III selected to the Watch List.

The Clarence "Bevo" Francis Award is presented annually to the player who has had the finest overall season within Small College Basketball. Considerations revolve around season statistics, individual achievements, awards, personal character and team achievements.

Pearce and Knight have led the Eagles to an 18-3 record as of February 17^th with the team in the heart of the University Athletic Association title race with an 8-2 conference record with four regular season games returning. Currently, Emory stands as the No. 1 team in the NPI rankings and No. 5 in the D3hoops.com national poll for a second consecutive week.

Both players are putting together tremendous senior seasons with Pearce leading the country with 7.2 assists per game and is first in the UAA, 16^th nationally, with 23.1 points per game while Knight is fifth in the UAA at 18.8 PPG. With them at the helm, the Eagles are first in the country with a 1.87 assists to turnover ratio in addition to boasting the UAA-leading field goal (39.5%) and three-point (28.5%) defenses, the highest scoring offense in the conference at 89.0 PPG as well as a UAA-leading 12.5 scoring margin.

As of Tuesday, Pearce and Knight stand third and fourth all-time on the Emory all-time scoring list with Pearce also climbing the ranks in most three-pointers made (2^nd), assists (3^rd), field goals made (5^th), free throws made (3^rd) while Knight stands third in total steals, fourth in field goals made, sixth in blocks, seventh in total rebounds and 15^th in assists. Pearce became the first player in program history to start 100 career games this past Sunday and is the program's all-time leader in minutes played with Knight checking in at fourth on the career ladder.

The Eagles will be on the road this weekend against Case Western Reserve and Carnegie Mellon before returning home for the final week of the regular season against CMU and Rochester.