Senior Ben Pearce made history Sunday afternoon as he became the all-time career scoring leader for Emory University Men's Basketball following a career-defining performance in the team's 87-77 win at Carnegie Mellon University.
Pearce established a new career-high with 37 points, his fourth game over 30 points this year, as he passed Tim Garrett (1,875) and Jake Davis (1,870) on the school's all-time scoring ladder. With two games remaining in the regular season, Pearce now stands alone with 1,898 points and counting.
Finding different ways to win is important this time of the year. Everyone needs to stay ready and prepared. This weekend we found a way to win two uaa road games," said Head Coach Jason Zimmerman. "Ben makes everyone one the court better. He has had a great deal of pressure and responsibility put on his shoulders from day one. He has handled it like a champion and has continued to grow. The most telling part of him setting the scoring record was seeing how happy his teammates were for him."
Adding to the history-making afternoon, junior Ethan Fauss posted his own career-best outing with a personal-best 29 points on 11-for-21 shooting, knocking down five three-pointers, and grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds as Emory won its 20th game of the season. The Eagles now sit at 20-3 on the season and in the midst of a six-game winning streak. With two games left, Emory stands 0.5 games back of first place Chicago in the UAA championship race. The Eagles conclude the season with Carnegie Mellon and Rochester at home this week while the Maroons will travel to WashU on Saturday for their season finale.
Pearce and Fauss had the Emory offense humming from the opening tip as the duo combined to score the team's first 13 points of the game as the Eagles led 13-12 at the first media timeout.
The teams remained within four points of each until back-to-back triples by Pearce, including his record-breaking shot at the 8:20 mark, gave Emory an eight-point advantage at 35-27. The Eagles led by as many as 12 in the half thanks to an AJ Harris three-pointer pushed the score to 41-29 with 5:05 to go before the break but the Tartans closed the half on a 15-5 run.
Fauss and sophomore Mario Awasum scored the first points out of the break to put Emory back in front by seven but CMU stayed around and cut the lead to 57-55 ahead of the under-16 media timeout. Out of the break, Harris Jackson and Pearce surged the Eagles ahead by seven points again but the Tartans still not go away and the score stood at 74-72 with 5:43 to play.
Fauss and Harris helped Emory go on another run to lead by nine with 2:56 to go and the Eagles never saw the lead dip under six points over the final moments.
The two teams will now travel to Atlanta for a rematch on Wednesday with tip off scheduled for 3:00 PM at the WoodPEC.
