The No. 18 ranked Emory University men's basketball team captured the University Athletic Association championship Friday night following a comeback thriller against Case Western Reserve University in Atlanta, GA.
The Eagles erased a 12-point deficit over the final 10:09 minutes of the game to win 88-84, capturing their third straight UAA title and sixth conference crown during the Jason Zimmerman era. Emory receives the conference's automatic qualifier for the NCAA tournament marking the ninth consecutive season the Eagles are headed to the postseason, the second longest active streak in Division III.
Senior Matthew Schner had a game for the ages as he tied the Emory single-game record for field goals made, going 16-for-27 to score a career-high 39 points. The 39 points were the most in a game by an Eagle in 16 years and tied Terry Gorusch for the second-highest scoring total in a game in program history.
Three Eagles joined Schner in double figures with senior Nick Stuck posting 16 in another near triple double as he added nine assists and tied Schner for the team lead with eight rebounds. Junior Max Fried chipped in with 10 points with senior Romin Williams adding 10 of his own.
For the Spartans, Mitch Prendergast tried to match Schner basket-for-basket as he finished with 32 points in the losing effort and was one of four CWRU players in double figures. Cole Frilling contributed 17 points with Griffin Kornaker and Hunter Drenth ending the contest with 10 points each.
With the score 76-64 Case Western Reserve with 10:09 showing on the clock, Emory reeled off nine straight points with seven coming from Schner to bring the score within three with 7:44 left to play. The Eagles extended their run by scoring eight of the next 11 points to take the lead at 81-79 on a Schner layup with 4:06 to go.
CWRU knotted the game at 81 with a Kornaker layup but two straight buckets from Fried including a great put back gave the Eagles the 85-81 edge with 92 seconds remaining, essentially sealing the victory as the teams traded free throws for the remainder of the game.
Emory rounds out the weekend on Sunday at home against Carnegie Mellon before hosting Rochester next Saturday, February 26th, in the regular season finale.