The Emory University men's basketball team saw its historic season come to a close Sunday afternoon in the NCAA Division III national championship game, falling to the University of Mary Washington at the buzzer at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana.
The Eagles made a furious comeback in the second half, erasing a 13-point deficit within the final five minutes of regulation including a game-tying three-pointer from junior Ethan Fauss with 10.9 seconds to go, but the Eagles of Mary Washington saw a tip-in layup from Colin Mitchell go in as time expired.
Fauss and senior Jair Knight led the Eagles in scoring with 24 points each while sophomore Mario Awasum had a monster game down low with a career-high 19 rebounds to go along with nine points and four blocks. UMW was led by Kye Robinson who had a game-high 27 points in 40 minutes.
Emory started slow out of the gates with the team missing 12 of its first 13 shots from the floor and trailed by a score of 17-9 midway through the opening half. A triple from Fauss kickstarted an Emory run however as EU ripped off nine consecutive points and took the lead at 18-17 with a driving reverse layup by Knight to make UMW call a timeout with 8:00 showing on the clock.
The teams traded leads over the final minutes of the first half before Fauss and Knight pushed Emory ahead before the break including a highlight reel dunk by Knight inside the closing moments to send Emory into the locker room ahead 30-28.
Emory continued to ride that momentum swing into the second half as Fauss, Knight and junior AJ Harris connected on the Eagles's first three treys of the half to extend Emory's lead to its largest of the night at 43-35 with 16:58 to go.
A 9-0 run by Mary Washington, including seven from Robinson, gave UMW the lead back at 44-43. The teams stayed close over the following five minutes with Knight muscling in a layup from close range made the score 52-50 at the 9:36 mark.
A cold spell struck for Emory after the Knight basket as EU failed to score for over five minutes of gameplay, letting Mary Washington pull within the cusp of the title with an 11-0 span to lead 63-50 with 4:49 to play.
Fauss connected on another long-range shot, one of his six successful makes from beyond the arc, to end the run and propel Emory to the late-stage comeback as the Eagles utilized a 23-10 run over the final minutes to pull even.
Trailing 71-61, Awasum and Fauss went a combined 4-for-5 from the free throw line to move within six. After Robinson went 1-for-2 at the stripe, senior Ben Pearce drained a stepback three-pointer, his first field goal of the game, to cut the score to 72-68 with 1:29 on the clock.
Pearce had a chance to make it a one possession game with 1:05 remaining but missed the front end of a 1-and-1 opportunity. Fauss though came up big on the defensive end as he intercepted a pass and dished it to Harris on the fastbreak to put the score at 72-70 with 47 seconds left.
On UMW's possession, Mitchell had look for the win from three-point range. He missed on the attempt but tracked down the rebound, forcing Emory to foul. Mitchell only went 1-for-2 at the line, giving Emory a chance to tie.
Following clutch last second shots in the NCAA Second Round and Elite Eight, the Emory Eagles saw another one fall as Fauss sank the game-tying triple with 10 seconds left to even the score at 73-73.
On Mary Washington's final possession, the ball went in Robinson's hands as he hoisted an off-balance shot with clock dwindling. The attempt was off but Mitchell was there for the putback as he got off his shot with less than a second left for the win.
The defeat puts a cap to a historic season for the Emory Eagles as the program established a new single-season team record with 27 wins, finishing the year at 27-4, while claiming the University Athletic Association championship with a 12-2 conference record, and advancing to the national title game for the first time in school history. For Mary Washington, the national championship is the first in program history.
