ST. LOUIS, Mo. – Powered by the legacy of Justin Hardy and HardyStrong, the (RV) Washington University in St. Louis men's basketball team upset No. 1 Emory, 89-74, on Friday evening in front of more than 1,100 fans in the WashU Field House.
 
Junior Ryan Cohen netted 24 points, one point shy of his career-high, and grabbed three rebounds. Sophomore Connor May scored 19 points to go with four rebounds and a team-high three steals while sophomore Anthony Przybilla scored 13 points. Senior Yogi Oliff scored seven and tied his career-high of nine assists.
 
The Bears were hot from the jump, taking a double-digit lead in the first four minutes. The Eagles scored the first basket of the game but WashU followed with a 15-0 run, starting with a 3-pointer and a layup from Przybilla.
 
Senior Calvin Kapral put in a hook shot and Cohen drained a 3-pointer. Thirty seconds later, Cohen hit a triple again and junior Jake Davis put in a layup for a 15-2 Bears' advantage at 16:11.
 
Emory's Ethan Fauss netted a 3-pointer to end the Bears' run, but WashU scored five-straight on a layup from Davis and a 3-pointer from May for a 20-5 lead with 14:38 on the clock. The Eagles followed with a bucket and a free throw before May hit another 3-pointer for a 23-9 lead at 12:43.
 
The Eagles put in six-straight points to cut WashU's lead to eight midway through the first half but it wasn't until the final three minutes of the first half that Emory pulled within four of the Bears. Down 11 with 2:54 on the clock, the Eagles scored seven points in a row to make it a 34-30 game with 1:32 remaining.
 
Przybilla scored the first bucket of the second half but the Eagles put in back-to-back layups to make it a three-point, 39-36 game with 17:43 on the clock. A 3-pointer from Fauss pulled Emory within two points, 43-41, with just under 16 minutes left.
 
The Bears began to create a little bit of distance following a pair of free throws from Cohen, a layup from May and another two free throws from Cohen, bumping WashU's lead back into double-digits, 53-43.
 
Midway through the second half, with the Bears up seven, Cohen hit three-straight free throws and Kapral added a pair. May put in a layup and then hit a shot from distance for a 15-point, 68-53 lead at the 9:08 mark.
 
The Eagles had a layup and a free throw but the Bears followed with seven-straight points, starting with a layup from Oliff, followed by a 3-pointer from Cohen and then a jumper from Oliff for the 19-point, 75-56, lead with 6:23 remaining.
 
After an Emory bucket, a 3-pointer from May extended it to a 20-point, 78-58 lead at 5:49. The Eagles closed the gap to 16 but WashU ultimately went up by 20 again on another 3-pointer from Cohen.
 
Seven points in a row from Emory cut the Bears' advantage to 13 points, 85-72, with just over one minute remaining in regulation. Kapral hit a pair of free throws and Przybilla scored off a pass from Oliff for the final points of the game for WashU.
 
The Bears shot 29-for-58 (50.0%) including an impressive 13-for-25 (52.0%) from 3-point range. WashU edged Emory 41-35 on the boards and had 17 points off Emory turnovers.
 
WashU is home again on Sunday with a 2 p.m. game against Rochester.
 
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