The No. 14 ranked Emory University men's basketball team returned from the winter hiatus to earn a 61-55 victory over the University of Mary Washington Friday afternoon on the first day of the Emory Holiday Classic.

Junior Cale Martens and sophomore Jair Knight combined for 39 of Emory's 61 points in the win. Martens dropped a game-high 21 points on 7-of-11 shooting with Knight adding 18. Junior Logan Shanahan grabbed a team-high 12 rebounds to go along with nine points while sophomore Ben Pearce chipped in with nine of his own. The Eagles, which entered Friday as the DIII team leader in assists per game, had 15 on the afternoon led by a season-high of six from junior Albert Fallas.

Emory held Mary Washington scoreless for the first 5:54 of the game, opening to a 10-0 advantage with all the scoring done from Martens and Knight. EU was able to maintain its lead until the final moments of the first half before UMW closed the period with a 9-0 run to head into the locker room in front 28-25.

In the second half, the game was a see-saw defensive battle with the deficit only reaching three possessions once across the game's final twenty minutes when Fallas drained a three-pointer to give Emory a 57-50 edge with 2:49 remaining. UMW rattled off five straight points from there, cutting the Emory lead to 57-55 with 58 seconds to go. However, Martens came through with the clincher, sinking a three on the other end of the court.

Emory finished 37.7% from the floor and 7-for-23 from long range. For Mary Washington, they shot 33.3% and were 3-for-17 from three. The visiting Eagles won the rebounding battle 51-38 but the Emory Eagles forced 14 turnovers compared to their 11 and rejected a season-high eight shots.

With the six-point win, the Emory Eagles have now won seven straight games to improve to 8-1 overall and will face George Fox University in the Holiday Classic championship game on Saturday, starting at 2:00 PM. The Bruins topped Maryville College 97-84 in the tournament opener on Friday.