Behind a career-high 28 points from sophomore AJ Harris, the No. 1 ranked Emory University men's basketball team held off upset-minded Union College, 77-71, to win the Emory Holiday Classic finale Monday afternoon in Atlanta.

The Eagles erased a 17-point first half deficit to remain unbeaten on the season, improving to 10-0 overall to match the 2019-20 squad for the second-best start to a season in program history.

Harris poured in 17 of his game-high 28 in the second half as Emory outscored the Garnet Chargers 41-24 down the stretch for the six-point win. Junior Ben Pearce notched 16 points while senior Albert Fallas had 10 points. Senior Logan Shanahan netted seven points while pulling down a season-high 13 rebounds and blocked four shots for the third game in a row. Junior Jair Knight recorded nine points and swatted away a career-high six shots.

Union, led by former Emory assistant coach Chris Murphy, came out of the gates strong looking to make a statement in the Division III basketball landscape. The Garnet Chargers were firing from the floor as they shot 18-for-36 across the opening 20 minutes including 5-for-9 from long range. Jack Plesser and Tanner Tedesco combined for 28 points in the half while a three-pointer from Will Yakoobian at the 3:40 mark gave the Eagles its largest deficit of the season as Emory trailed 42-25. Union would take a 47-36 lead into the locker room.

Back-to-back three pointers from Pearce and Harris with two minutes remaining ignited some momentum for the Eagles heading into the break as Emory began to mount its comeback with an 11-5 run to end the first half.

More long-range conversions from Pearce and Harris to open the second half helped slash the deficit to single digits at 49-42 inside the first 1:02 in the period.

With 14:27 left to play, a three-pointer from junior Cale Martens led off a 14-4 run for the Eagles over the next 4:50 minutes of game action as they were able to seize their first lead of the game since it was 3-2 in the opening stages. Harris scored eight points during the run including the go-ahead three-pointer with 9:37 remaining.

After Union retook the lead at 60-59, Emory used an 8-2 run highlighted by a pair of triples from Fallas and an electrifying windmill dunk from Knight to move in front by its largest lead of the evening at 68-62 with 5:14 to go.

The Garnet Chargers scored the next four points to make the game 68-66 with 1:54 showing on the clock but layups from Harris and Shanahan over the next minute helped keep Union at bay.

The Eagles finished the contest going 5-for-6 from the free throw line to seal the victory.

After staving off the upset bid, Emory will now turn its attention to No. 18 ranked Christopher Newport on Saturday, January 4th in the non-conference finale. Tip-off from Newport News, Virginia is scheduled for 2:00 PM.