The No. 22 ranked Emory University men's basketball team dropped its University Athletic Association opener Saturday afternoon, falling 79-77 to the University of Rochester at the Palestra in upstate New York.
Sophomore Jair Knight had a career-day for the Eagles as he recorded career-highs in both scoring and rebounding with a 27 and 12 effort, but it was not enough as the Eagles could not erase a 13-point first half deficit. Rochester was led by Matt Wiele's 24 points with Logan Jagodzinski adding 11 points and pulling down a game-high 14 rebounds.
The Yellowjackets shot at a 51.4% clip in the opening half as they took a 42-33 edge into the locker room. The Eagles shot just 35.1% and were 2-for-13 from three across the opening 20 minutes. Knight and junior Logan Shanahan combined for 21 of Emory's 33 points with Shanahan leading the Blue and Gold with 11 at the break.
Trailing at halftime for only the third time this season, the Eagles did their best to flip the script in the second half as they outscored UR 44-37 in the period.
Rochester held Emory at bay in the early stages of the second half, eventually taking a 69-58 advantage on a Mitchell Kershner bucket with 10:43 to play. From there the Eagles made their charge, using a 10-0 run over the next 5:14 of game play, highlighted by five points from freshman AJ Harris and points from Knight and sophomore Ben Pearce to bring the score to 69-68 with 5:29 remaining.
A 1-for-2 trip at the line from Matt Niemczura broke the scoreless string for Rochester but Harris answered with another basket to even the score for the first time since the first half with 5:24 to go.
Jagodzinski prevented the Eagles from grabbing the lead however as he went on a personal 5-0 run before another free throw from Wiele made it a 76-70 game with 4:09 showing on the clock.
The Eagles used free throws from Pearce and Shanahan as well as a steal and dunk play from Knight to cut the deficit to 76-75 as the game marched into the final seconds.
Emory finally grabbed its first lead of the game since the 10-7 mark of the first half when Knight dished the ball down low to junior Cale Martens who in turn powered his way for the go-ahead layup, his second basket of the afternoon. On the other end of the court though, Wiele and Kershner linked up for the backdoor pass with Wiele converting to give Rochester the lead again at 78-77 with seven seconds to go.
The ball was in Pearce's hands for the Eagles but he was called for an offensive foul on his drive to the basket. After the Yellowjackets made one of two free throws, Emory had two chances at inbound opportunities within the last four seconds but failed to get off one final shot, giving Rochester its first win over the Eagles in five seasons.
Emory looks to rebound next weekend with two more UAA contests on the road, traveling to #16 WashU on Friday, January 12 before meeting the Maroons of UChicago on Sunday, January 14.