The No. 18 ranked Emory University men's basketball team neared the century mark as they traveled into Brooklyn and pulled out a 95-91 win over New York University Friday night.
Five different Eagles scored in double figures as the Eagles moved back into a tie for first in the UAA with a 3-1 mark and moved to 12-3 overall. NYU slips to seventh in the league standings at 1-3 and now stands at an identical 12-3 mark.
Freshman Benjamin Pearce led the Eagles in scoring with 21 points and tied for the team lead with a season-high nine rebounds. Sophomore Albert Fallas was a perfect 6-for-6 from distance for a career-high 18 points while senior Mason Johnson went for 16 points and freshman Jair Knight netted 12 to go along with six rebounds and a pair of blocks. Sophomore Cale Martens narrowly missed another double-double, scoring 10 points and pulling down nine boards.
For the Violets, Spencer Freedman and Nikola Lipovic combined for 46 points and sank 10 of the team's 16 three-pointers. Cinque Stephens had 13 points on 5-of-10 shooting with Zay Freeney going for 12 points thanks to three makes from behind the arc.
The Eagles found themselves in an early hole, trailing 9-2 within the opening 90 seconds, but a 13-0 run over the next four minutes helped regain momentum as Emory held the lead for the rest of the half. Despite a 27-9 rebounding margin, NYU kept pace with the Eagles across the opening 20 minutes, draining 11 three-pointers and went into the break down two at 46-44.
Emory came out of the locker room with a 7-0 run and was able to limit the NYU offense out of the gate. The Violets did not hit a three until just past the 10-minute mark when they made two inside a minute to make it a three-point game at 67-64.
The Violets eventually tied the score at 69 with Freeney converting all three free throws as he drew the foul on a corner three attempt. Following the foul, Emory proceeded to go on another run, rattling off 10 straight points which was capped by a Fallas three with the shot clock dwindling with 5:54 to play.
From there NYU was able to claw back into the Emory lead, cutting the lead to two at 81-79 before a lethal three from the top of the arc by Martens pushed the advantage back to five with 3:22 to play.
The Violets stayed resilient after the Martens three, scoring the game's next five points and tied the game at 84 with an and-one by Quinn Clark. Pearce was fouled on the next possession and was able to knock down both free throws and was sent to the line again after NYU's next trip down the floor, securing the rebound as Stephens missed a wide-open layup, and was able to convert both FT attempts.
NYU still did not quit with Freedman nailing a deep three with 38.9 seconds left, cutting Emory's lead to one at 88-87 but a corner three by Fallas back down the court all but put a clamper on the Eagles win. Freedman answered with a floater but Pearce continued to make free throws, going 4-for-6 over the final 20 seconds to help close out the four-point win.
Next up for the Eagles will be a meeting with Brandeis University Sunday afternoon at 12:00 PM.