Fawcett led all players with 31 points, a career-high, on 15-of-20 shooting. He also led the Eagles with seven rebounds. He had 19 points by halftime, hitting nine-of-12 in the first to lead Emory to a 45-39 advantage. Junior guard Rashawn Allen (Basking Ridge, N.J.) added 12 points off the bench, but no other Emory player had more than eight points.
Emory led by 12 points, 45-33, late in the first half, but Lambert hit a trifecta with 1:20 on the clock and Green converted a traditional three-point play to cut the lead in half before the teams headed to the locker room. Brandeis got within four at 47-43 on a Green lay-up with 2:34 gone in the half, but Emory responded with an 11-3 run over the next four minutes, taking a 58-47 lead on a pair of free throws by sophomore Justin Zale (Brookville, N.Y.). Brandeis held the Eagles scoreless over the next five minutes to tie the game at 58 on Kristof’s trifecta with 8:57 on the clock. That marked the first of four ties and five lead changes the rest of the way.
The Judges reclaimed their first lead of the game since the 9:29 mark of the first half when Lambert hit a traditional three-point play with 6:34 left. The teams traded buckets on the next four possessions, with Emory scoring on a lay-up by Fawcett and two free throws by Zale to take a 68-65 lead with 4:24 remaining. Brandeis held the Eagles to just one field goal the rest of the way, though, making the decisive run. Pradia hit one-of-two free throws, then threaded a nice pass to senior Tim Deihl (Cumberland, Maine) to tie the game at 68-68. Lambert rebounded Allen’s miss on Emory’s next possession and scored on a feed from Deihl to give the Judges a lead they would not relinquish. Emory missed seven-of-eight field goal attempts and went just two-of-four from the line down the stretch. After shooting 61.3% (19-31) in the first half, the Eagles hit only 32.3% in the second (10-31), while Brandeis kept up its hot shooting, hitting 59.3% in the first (16-27) and 57.7% in the second (15-26) for a season-high 58.5% for the game (31-53). The Judges also overcame a deep rebounding deficit in the second half. Trailing 17-8 on the board at halftime, they managed to even things up on the glass, 30-30.