The No. 3 ranked Emory University men's basketball team erased a double digit first half deficit to upend Brandeis University, 80-71, Friday night at Red Auerbach Arena in Waltham, Massachusetts.
Seniors Ben Pearce and Jair Knight shined for the Eagles in the comeback win with Pearce notching a team high 24 points while Knight recorded a double-double with 20 points and 11 rebounds. Four different Emory players finished in double figures with junior Ethan Fauss adding 14 points and sophomore Mario Awasum chiming in with 10 as Emory ran its winning streak to 11 games.
"Road wins in our league are a 40-minute battle," said Head Coach Jason Zimmerman. "We made enough plays tonight to get a good road win and it took all of those 40 minutes."
The Eagles fell behind early as the Judges had the three-point stroke working to start the game, sinking their first five triples to lead 15-6 through five minutes. The Brandeis lead grew to as many as 11 in the opening half with a basket from Alex Zakheim with 9:44 remaining pushed the Judges in front 21-10.
Emory began its rally from there as the slowly chipped away at the deficit but still trailed by five with under a minute to go until the break. Prior to the halftime whistle, the Eagles grabbed some much needed momentum as a driving and-one by Fauss following by a end-line dribble drive from Pearce brought the Eagles to within 35-33 going into the locker room.
Junior AJ Harris helped continue that momentum swing to open the second half, tying the game with the half's first basket before dishing it out to Pearce in corner the next time down the floor where he drained one of his two threes in the game and giving Emory the lead at 38-35 – the Eagles' first lead since 4-3.
The teams traded barbs over the next 11 minutes and saw Emory lead 60-59 at the under eight timeout. After trailing 59-56, the Eagles used an 8-0 run while keeping the Judges scoreless for over two minutes to regain control of the lead. With the score 64-61 EU, Pearce had two pivotal possession, knocking down a step-back three-pointer before converting the driving and-one to put Emory ahead 70-63 with 5:41 left to go.
The Judges stayed resilient and cut the Emory lead back down to three at 71-68 with 4:16 showing on the clock but the Eagles' defense stepped up in a huge way over the final minutes, limited Brandeis to just one field goal conversions out of five attempts and forced three turnovers.
Leading 71-68, Knight knocked down one of two tries from the line but junior Spencer Hall came up clutch with the steal, leading to a Knight two-handed slam to put the game away. Fauss, Knight and Awasum had scores down the stretch to put the finishes touches on the road win.