SE Georgia News

Freshman Benjamin Pearce scored a career-high 29 points but it was not enough as the Emory University men's basketball team fell to New York University, 88-82, Friday night in Atlanta.

Pearce was one of four Eagles in double figures on the night as freshman Jair Knight and sophomore Logan Shanahan each netted 13 points while senior JJ Halaby notched his second straight game in double digits as he recorded 10 points.

With his 29 points, Pearce now has 418 points this season as he eclipses Romin Williams' mark of 408 points during the 2017-18 season for the most points in a single season by an Emory freshman in team history.

For the Violets, graduate students Spencer Freedman and Michael Savarino led the charge with 25 and 22 points, respectively, while Zay Freeney rounded out the top NYU scorers with 11. As a team, NYU was lights out from behind the arc, knocking down 17 threes in 34 attempts and finishing 25-for-53 from the field.

The opening half was a back-and-forth affair with the teams swapping leads nine times with Emory holding the largest lead of the frame at 18-9 thanks to a Pearce triple at 13:00.

NYU worked itself back and eventually took a 29-27 lead with 3:45 to go before intermission. From there, the Violets held serve and would go into the locker room in front 40-34.

In the second half, the Violets maintained its advantage and extend its edge to as many as 11 at 63-52, but the Eagles fought back to tie to even the score at 73-73 at 2:50 with an 8-1 run. However, the Violets quickly regained the lead and would finish 8-for-9 from the charity stripe down the stretch to grind out the road win.

Emory is set to play its final regular season home game in front of the WoodPEC crowd Sunday afternoon, taking on Brandeis University in a 12:00 pm tip. Prior to the start of the game, the Eagles will honor its four-member senior class with a special on-court ceremony.

Original source can be found here.