The Emory University men's basketball team saw its season conclude Saturday night, falling in heartbreaking fashion to Wabash College, 87-86, in the second round of the NCAA tournament.
The Eagles finish the year 20-6 overall while the Little Giants extend their winning streak to 22 games and advance to the second weekend to take on Williams in the Round of 16 at Illinois Wesleyan.
Senior Matthew Schner and Wabash's Jack Davidson, two of the top players in all of Division III and surefire All-America selections later this month, put forth one of the great mano-a-mano showcases across the basketball landscape this season with Davidson leading Wabash to the one-point win in the instant classic.
Schner recorded the second-ever triple-double in Emory team history with a stat line of 30 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists while Davidson dropped a season-high 42 points including 34 in the first half and was 7-for-11 from long range. For Schner, it was just the 29th triple double in Division III this season and puts an end to his remarkable senior season where he set program records in both points per game (23.5) and points scored (611).
For Emory, graduate student Romin Williams registered 12 points and freshman Cale Martens went for 10 points and seven rebounds. On the other side, Ahmoni Jones and Kellen Schreiber combined for 32 points behind Davidson with Jones going for 18 and six rebounds and Schreiber turning in 14 and seven rebounds.
Wabash came roaring out of the gate to open the game, going up 14-4 in the opening four minutes of the game. A furious run from the Eagles, highlighted by eight points from Schner, put Emory right back in the game, earning its first lead at 25-23 with an Albert Fallas three at the 10:03 mark. The remainder of the half was a back-and-forth affair with the Little Giants making a late push to take a 48-43 lead into the locker room.
The second half started similarly to the first with Wabash going on an 11-2 run with eight being scored by Davidson to balloon the Little Giants lead to 14 at 17:15, the largest of the game.
The Eagles began to claw their way back into the game after trailing 71-57 at 12:45, bringing the game back to within single digits. A big time and-one layup from Schner at 10:30 set the score at 71-63 and marked the beginning of 11 straight points scored by Schner as he went into takeover mode down the stretch with everything he touched finding the bottom of the net.
For the first time since the first half the Eagles tied the game at the 4:24 mark as Williams showed off his agility in getting to the basket for a crafty layup to tie the score at 78 apiece. A wild banked in three with the shot clock dwindling put the Little Giants back up three but Emory kept grinding, always believing they could battle back as they have done all season.
Both teams went scoreless from the 2:00 mark to just under 30 seconds to play as both squads locked in on defense as the game ticked down to the wire.
A touch foul by Schner at 26 seconds sent Davidson to the line where he sank both free throws to put Wabash up 87-82. A quick inbounds saw senior Nick Stuck fly down the court and to the basket where his layup attempt rimmed out, however a fouled was called on the play and earned himself a trip to the charity stripe with 19 seconds on the clock. Stuck went 1-for-2 at the line and a fight for the rebound saw the ball sail out-of-bounds last touched by the Little Giants, giving the Eagles another possession down four.
A designed after-timeout play saw the ball in Schner's hands off the inbound and, as he has done so many times in his career, calmly and confidently knocked down a three with a hand in his face to bring Emory to within one with 17 seconds to play.
A quick take foul from the Eagles sent Davidson, a 91% free throw shooter this season, to the line for the first of a 1-and-1 attempt. With the pressure at its highest, Davidson missed the first free throw and Schner ripped down his 15th rebound of the night to put the ball back in the hands of the Eagles down one with ten seconds to play.
The Eagles came down the court and Stuck handed the ball off to Schner and quickly set a screen on Schner's defender to give Schner a small sliver of daylight to get the shot off. The shot just rimmed out but went in the direction of Martens who was unable to put in a tip-in dunk attempt through a lot of contact in the closing seconds. Stuck pulled down the final rebound off the Martens miss but was unable to get another shot off before the buzzer sounded, signaling the end of the Eagles outstanding season.