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| All it took was WashU falling out of the D3hoops.com Top 25 for them to put together an upset of the No. 1 team. WashU athletics photo |
Our records don't reflect how many times the No. 1 team in the country has gone down while on a trip to WashU, but it's more than once. On Friday that victim was Emory. Meanwhile, Trinity (Conn.) and St. Thomas escaped with wins, Wesleyan kept its run going, the NYU women extended their streak to 79 wins and the Cortland women won their 14th in a row. Check out Friday night's recap.
Friday night was the WashU men's basketball program's annual HardyStrong Game. The event, established in 2022, honors Justin Hardy who passed away on May 29, 2022 after a 13-month battle with Stage IV stomach cancer. A fierce fighter, Hardy did what previously seemed impossible – playing through aggressive cancer treatments while inspiring the WashU community and beyond.
And on this night, WashU won its battle on the floor. WashU knocked off top-ranked Emory 89-74, as Ryan Cohen scored 24 points, Connor May added 19 and Yogi Oliff contributed seven points and nine assists in the win. After Emory scored the first two points, WashU scored the next 15. The Eagles (14-2, 4-1 UAA) cut the deficit to four late in the first half, and two early in the second on an Ethan Fauss three-pointer before the Bears were able to create some distance. Jair Knight and Bean Pearce combined for 35 points for Emory, but needed 37 shots to go it, and went a combined 3-for-13 from three-point range and 0-for-4 from the line in the process.
Jarrel Okorougo led all scorers with 28 points on 11-for-17 shooting and also grabbed eight rebounds as No. 2 Trinity (Conn.) pulled away in the second half to get past Connecticut College 80-67. Trinity (18-1, 5-1 NESCAC) pulled away behind a 13-2 burst that resulted in a 66-55 advantage with 4:58 to play. Henry Vetter scored six points during the spurt, and the Camels never got closer than nine the rest of the way. Greg Cantwell led four Camels (14-6, 2-4) in double digits with 18 points and added five rebounds.
Emory had garnered the top spot on just nine of the 25 ballots in the D3hoops.com men's basketball Top 25, with Trinity receiving 15, but Emory was No. 2 on almost all of the remaining ballots and was able to eke out the top spot by just three points.
No. 4 St. Thomas (Texas) was able to get past 8-9 Texas Lutheran on the road on Friday night, as Nicholas Buffalo tipped in a putback off a missed three-pointer for the game winner with 2.85 seconds left to give the Celts a 71-69 lead, and TLU's 65-foot heave at the buzzer was off the mark. Angel Johnson led all scorers, finishing with 24 points while shooting 9-of-12 from the field. He also added six steals and seven assists to help UST improve to 17-1, 9-0 in the SCAC. TLU fell to 8-9, 3-5.
No. 19 Wesleyan pulled off its second NESCAC upset in as many weekends as the Cardinals put themselves in first place all alone in the conference, snapping Tufts' 16-game win streak by defeating the Jumbos 68-61. Trailing by as many as 11 in the first half, the Cardinals leaned on their defense to work their way back into the game, holding Tufts to 8-for-31 shooting and 1-for-12 from beyond the arc in the second half. Late in the game, Sam Pohlman broke free on a full-court inbounds pass, scoring the go-ahead bucket with 1:38 left in regulation. Free throws then loomed large as Oscar Edelman stepped to the line and made two pressure-packed attempts with the Cardinals leading by just one point and 38 seconds left in a 1-and-1 situation. Tufts had a game-tying three-point shot in the air from Zion Watt hit the rim on the next possession and Zach Wolinski cleaned up the rebound before being fouled immediately. With the Cardinals still shooting 1-and-1, Wolinski followed Edelman's lead and drained both attempts to put the Cardinals up 66-61 with 26 seconds left. Pohlman finished with a game-high 19 points in the win.
Ethan Edwards scored 29 points on to lead Case Western Reserve to its first University Athletic Association victory of the season, a 87-83 win over the No. 22 New York University Violets at the Paulson Center in New York City. The win ended a five-game losing streak for the Spartans, who improved to 9-8 overall with a 1-5 UAA record. The Violets, who had won two straight games to climb into the national rankings, dropped to 12-5 overall with a 3-3 league record.
NYU women's streak keeps rolling along
No. 1 NYU extended its winning streak to 79 consecutive games, getting the Violets within two games of matching the Division III women's basketball record of 81 consecutive wins, set by WashU from 1998 to 2001. NYU broke open a game which was 10 points at the half, erasing all doubt in the third quarter, going up by as many as 24 points and taking a 73-53 lead into the fourth. Case Western Reserve (8-9, 1-5) got as close as 17 points in the final quarter, but the Violets bumped the margin to a game-high 30, 88-58, on Megan Ohonde's free throw with 3:28 remaining, and went on to win 93-65. Brooke Batchelor finished with a career-high 22 points, making 10-of-14 shots from the field.
No. 22 Cortland won its 14th straight game and remained unbeaten in SUNYAC play with a 62-39 victory at Oneonta in a battle of Red Dragons. Brooke Tillotson led Cortland with 18 points on 8-of-12 shooting. She also finished with five rebounds, two blocks and two steals. Cadence Nicholas scored a career-high 15 points, hitting 6-of-8 field goals and 3-for-3 at the free throw line. Cortland never trailed, taking a 9-2 lead to open the game and leading 12-7 after one period. Cortland went on a 10-0 run and held Oneonta scoreless for the first 6:37 of the second to take a 22-7 lead. Tillotson scored six points and Funk tallied four points during that stretch. Cortland led 31-17 at halftime behind 13 points from Tillotson and nine from Nicholas.
Lexy Harris scored a game-high 28 with 15 rebounds and Sidney Rogers added 14 as No. 15 WashU defeated No. 18 Emory 67-56. The Bears held the visiting Eagles (12-4, 2-3 UAA) to 4-for-23 shooting from three-point range, getting just enough done to improve to 13-4, 4-2 in the conference. Emory was just 4-for-17 from the floor and went 0-for-8 from three-point range in the fourth quarter, during which the Bears outscored the Eagles 18-8.