The No. 5 ranked Emory University men's basketball team won its fifth consecutive game Friday night as the Eagles outpaced Case Western Reserve, 101-93, at Horsburgh Gymnasium in Cleveland, Ohio.
Four different Eagles scored 17 points or more in the win led by senior Jair Knight's team-leading 31 points. Senior Ben Pearce scored 27 points as he tied a program record with 15 successful free throws as he went 15-for-16 from the line. Junior AJ Harris established a new career-best with five three-pointers as he went 5-for-11 from beyond the arc to score 20 points and sophomore Harris Jackson set a new personal best with 17 points in 27 minutes off the bench.
With Knight's scoring total he became the fourth player in program history to reach 1,700 career points as he stands fourth all-time with 1,704 points in his career. Pearce continued his climb on the career leader board and will enter Sunday with an opportunity to become Emory's all-time career scoring king, standing at 1,861 as he trails Jake Davis (1,870) and Tim Garrett (1,875) on the all-time list.
The game was even through the first media timeout with the score sitting at 10-10 but a 9-0 burst from the Spartans over the next two minutes, including seven from Andrew Fox, has CWRU leading 19-10 at the 13:28 mark. The Spartans lead grew to as many as 14 in the opening half at 41-27 with 4:12 to go before the break but the Eagles were able to close the half on a 15-4 scoring binge led by nine points combined from Harris and Knight.
Harris immediately gave the Eagles the lead with a four-point play to start the second half but CWRU was able to hold a 63-57 advantage six minutes later. Emory countered with a 9-0 run by Pearce and Harris to lead 66-63 and continued to extend the edge, posting a 74-67 lead mid-way through the half.
The Spartans were able to slash the Emory lead to two with a 5-0 burst but Knight and Pearce keyed a six-point scoring run and a Spencer Hall free throw had the visitors leading 81-72 with 8:18 to go.
 After leading 83-77, the Eagles utilized another unanswered run as they scored nine straight capped by a Pearce jumper to give Emory its largest lead of the game at 92-77 with 4:10 left to play.
Case Western Reserve surged late, cutting the score to 95-90 with 78 seconds remaining, but the Eagles went 6-for-8 at the line down the stretch to clinch the road win.
Emory is set to take on Carnegie Mellon on Sunday in the first of two straight against Tartans. Tip off is set for 2:00 PM in Pittsburgh.
