ATLANTA, Ga. - The Union College men's basketball team put a massive scare into the nation's top-ranked team on Monday afternoon, battling #1 Emory University until the final whistle in a hard-fought 77-71 loss on day two of the Emory Holiday Classic at the Woodruff P.E. Center.

Sophomore Jack Plesser had another solid effort for Union (4-6), recording his second career double-double with a game-high 24 points and 11 rebounds. Classmate Tanner Tedesco added 16 points, seven caroms and five assists, and fellow sophomore Jaden Jauregui also chipped in 10 points and seven boards.

Emory (10-0) was paced by AJ Harris with a game-high 28 points on 9-of-16 shooting to go with eight boards. Ben Pearce added 16 points and six assists while Logan Shanahan grabbed a game-high 13 boards and scored seven points for the home team.

Playing Emory closer than any other team in Division III so far this season, Union played arguably its best half of the season to start the day and led by as many as 17 points in taking an 11-point advantage into halftime.

Plesser hit 7-of-10 shots on the way to 16 points in the opening half, followed by Tedesco with 12 points on 4-of-6 shooting to go with five rebounds and four assists. As a team, Union shot 50.0 percent (18 of 36) from the field and 55.6 percent (5 of 9) from long range while also hitting all six of its free-throw attempts. The visitors also limited Emory to 30.8 percent (12 of 39) shooting from the field, including a 4-of-20 mark (20.0 percent) from beyond the arc.

The Garnet Chargers started the contest red-hot from the field, hitting 10 of their first 14 shots to take a 23-12 lead at the 8:33 mark of the opening half. Plesser scored 12 points and Tedesco had seven as part of the team's fantastic start. Union led by as many as 17 points in the opening half, thanks to a brief 8-1 run that included three-pointers from junior Neil Daterao and first-year Will Yakoobian to put the visitors up 42-25 with 3:40 left. The deficit was the largest faced by the Eagles through their first 10 games of the season and their first double-digit deficit since the opening game of the season against Berry College. 

Emory fought back with an 11-3 run, but a driving layup by Jauregui gave Union a 47-36 lead at the half, the first time all season that the Eagles had trailed after 20 minutes.

Plesser scored Union's first six points of the second half as the Garnet Chargers managed to keep the Eagles at a small distance for the first 10 minutes. However, a Harris three capped a 14-4 run and gave Emory its first lead since the opening minute at 59-58 with 9:37 remaining. Jauregui put Union back up on the next possession, but the home team came back with another 9-2 run to take a six-point edge with under five minutes on the clock.

The Union defense kept Emory off the scoreboard for nearly four minutes to stay in the game, but Union could only manage four free throws from sophomore Matthew Garside during that time to get within two at 68-66. The deficit was still two entering the final minute after a pair of freebies by sophomore Brendan Reid, but the visitors were outscored 7-2 the rest of the way to come up just short.

Playing with a shorter bench due to injuries, the Garnet Chargers ran out of gas offensively in the second half, shooting just 24.2 percent (8 of 33) from the field to finish the game at 37.7 percent (26 of 69). Emory heated up both from long range and overall in the second stanza to pull out the win, shooting 40.0 percent (14 of 35) from the field and knocking down seven three-pointers to end the afternoon at 35.1 percent (26 of 74) from the field.

Union will return to action next Tuesday, January 7, when the Garnet Chargers begin a string of 15 straight Liberty League matchups and five straight home games at 7:30 p.m. against Bard College at Viniar Athletic Center.