The Emory University men's basketball program opened the season with a thunderous victory in front of its home crowd Tuesday night, defeating in-state foe Piedmont University 85-67 in Atlanta.

The freshman duo of Jair Knight and Benjamin Pearce made the most of their Emory debuts, combining for 35 points on 14-for-23 shooting to lead the Eagles in the 18-point win. Junior Matteo Whelton chipped in with a career-best 14 points in 16 minutes off the bench while senior Mason Johnson had 11 points to go along with eight rebounds.

The Eagles got off to a sluggish start as they saw themselves trailing the visiting Lions by nine at 26-17 with 7:26 remaining before an impressive 20-2 run to end the half put the Eagles ahead for good and into the locker room with the 37-28 advantage.

Knight and Pearce stole the show following the halftime break with Knight exploding for 12 of his 19 points while Pearce added eight of his own. 

The rookie combo sent the WoodPEC crowd into a frenzy with highlight reel sequence that saw Knight drain a three before a dynamite block on the other end, one of his two blocks on the evening. The block set up a fast break opportunity where Pearce sank another triple to put Emory in front 57-37 and forcing Piedmont to use a timeout. Pearce ended the contest with four converted threes.

The pair was not finished with the highlights, syncing up for another stellar play a few minutes later that was set up by a beautiful behind-the-back steal from Pearce. Off the turnover, the theft went to sophomore Albert Fallas who dished it back to Pearce who then gifted the alley-oop to his classmate for the capper.

Emory's lead grew to as many as 25 points with 5:35 to play before eventually settling on the 18-point final margin.

The Eagles return to action Monday night when they travel to Sewanee, Tennessee for a matchup with the Tigers.