Tartans Drop Hard-Fought Battle 90-84 at #22 Emory

(ATLANTA, Ga.) – The Carnegie Mellon University men's basketball team continued its four-game University Athletic Association (UAA) road trip with a 90-84 setback at 22nd-ranked Emory University on Sunday afternoon.

Game Information
Carnegie Mellon 84, #22 Emory 90
Records: Carnegie Mellon (11-5, 3-2 UAA), #22 Emory (10115, 2-3 UAA)
Location: Atlanta, Ga. (Woodruff P.E. Center)

How it Happened

• The Tartans trailed 9-7 early in the contest and used a 12-4 run to grab a 19-13 lead with 14:20 to play in the first half.
• Emory made the score 22-21, but the Cardinal and Gray responded and pushed their advantage to 32-25.
• The home team then went on a 9-2 run and knotted the score at 34-all, but on the ensuing possession down the court junior Aidan Booher hit a triple to give the Tartans a 37-34 lead with 6:13 left in the first half.
• Three minutes later, Emory took a 41-39 lead on a fastbreak dunk by Jair Knight, and a made foul shot off the hands of Ben Pearce.
• The hone teams lead grew to 44-41, but over the final 2:38 of the first half Carnegie Mellon outscored Emory 8-3 and took a 49-47 lead into the break after a sophomore Justin Allen's layup as time expired.
• The start of the second half saw the lead change hands nine times and the score tied two other occasions. The last lead change came with 14:40 when Emory's Albert Fallas made a three-point basket to make the score 61-59.
• Fallas' triple sparked a 9-0 run for the Eagles to push the score to 67-59 at the 12-minute mark.
• A minute later after a bucket by senior Jack Stone and a pair of free throws by Emory, Carnegie Mellon scored eight straight points to pull within a point at 69-68.
• Emory's Cale Martens pushed the lead to 72-68 on the next possession down the court on a long ball.
• Stone made the score 85-84 Emory on a made layup with 1:07 in regulation, but the scoring stopped there for the Tartans and the Eagles connected on 5-of-6 from the foul line down the stretch to hold on for the 90-84 victory.

Tartan Stats

• Carnegie Mellon shot 46.5% (33-71) from the floor while converting 7-of-22 (31.8%) from behind the arc. The Tartans went 11-of-18 (61.1%) from the foul line.
• The Tartans outscored the Eagles 50-34 in points in the paint.
• Six players scored in double figures for the Tartans with sophomore Buckley DeJardin leading the way with 17 points. Allen finished with 16, Stone 11, while senior R.J. Holmes, junior Nolan Casey and Booher each finished with 10 points. It was a season-high for Booher.
• Holmes led the Tartans with nine rebounds,
• Casey finished with a career-high seven assists to lead the Cardinal and Gray and hauled down eight rebounds, one off his career-high.

Eagle Stats

• Emory shot 43.1% (28-65) from the floor while converting 9-of-32 (28.1%) from behind the arc. The Eagles went 25-of-31 (80.6%) from the foul line.
• The Eagles had six players scored in double figures as well with Pearce leading the way with 19 points. Knight had 17, Martens, 13, Logan Shanahan 12, Ethan Fauss 11 and AJ Harris 10.
• Pearce ended with a game-high eight assists.

Game Notes

• The Tartans are now 2-1 this season against ranked opponents.
• It was the second time this season that the Tartans had six players score in double figures.

Up Next

• Carnegie Mellon will travel to St. Louis, Missouri on Friday, January 26 for a 7:30 p.m. CT tip at WashU.