Farrar Matches Career-High but No. 17 Guilford College Men’s Basketball Drops Top-20 Clash to No. 8 Emory
Eagles three-point barrage too much for Quakers
from Bryce Johnson, Director of Athletic Communications
ATLANTA, Ga. – Nick Farrar (Apex, N.C.) poured in 23 points in a premier Division-III men’s basketball showdown between the No. 17 nationally ranked Guilford College men’s basketball team and No. 8 Emory University at the Woodruff PE Center on Saturday night, but ultimately the three-point shooting of the Eagles prevailed to a 75-61 final score.
The defeat, Guilford’s first to a team outside of the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) in exactly two years, having won their last 20 matchups outside of the league since falling to North Carolina Wesleyan University 52-50 on November 16 of 2022, drops the Quakers to 2-1 on the young season. Emory, seeking a resurgent 2024-25 campaign improves to 2-0.
While the Quakers scored 36 points in the paint on the night and 13 second-chance points, EU restricted their guests to just 37.3% from the field and 18.8% from deep. That combined with a 15-3 edge in three-point makes, and 20-4 advantage on the break gave the home team the win.
Farrar scored his 23 points on the evening by making 6-of-14 from the field and 2-of-5 from deep while also being a frequent flier at the line, going 9-for-10, but unfortunately, he was the only Quaker to reach double-digits on the night. Shooting well out of the gates, the Eagles limited Gabe Proctor’s (Apex, N.C.) chances, and while he hit 2-of-3 he only scored six points, albeit with a career-high nine rebounds and three steals, matching his career-best from last season against EU. Caleb Furr (Warrenton, Va.) and Caleb Farrish (McLeansville, N.C.) had eight apiece with the former matching Proctor for the game-high in rebounds with nine, five of them on the offensive end. No Quaker was awarded more than one assist in the game.
Ben Pearce led Emory with 20 points making 8-of-12 overall and 4-of-7 from range. Jair Knight contributed with 16 points making half of his ten shot attempts and AJ Harris rounded out double-digit scorers with 13 on 4-of-9. Logan Shanahan led the home team in rebounds with five and Alber Fallas paced all players in assists with five.
The Eagles set the tone early, scoring on seven of their first eight possessions with six of those makes coming from long range. If you were a little late settling into your seat, you would have missed them exploding out to a 20-6 advantage less than four minutes in. GC began to find some answers offensively, but Emory just could not miss as even after a single shot went awry, they scored on six-straight possessions once again up through the 11-minute mark to lead 35-17 ten minutes in.
Guilford’s defense finally found success and they began closing the gap. Farrar made two at the line, Chase Ellis (Douglasville, Ga.) made two at the rim and Farrar got two more in a 6-0 spurt. Emory got their lone basket after the 11-minute mark of the first with a layup by Ethan Fauss, but then five-in-a-row from Farrish and two from Proctor cut it to single-digits at 37-30 entering the locker room.
Unfortunately, instead of continuing the trends from the end of the first half, the Eagles reverted more to their early-first-half ways in the second. A Pearce layup, a Fallas three, another Pearce two, and a pair at the charity stripe by Knight constituted a 9-0 run to get back to double-digits and the Quakers would be unable to get back within three-possessions the rest of the way. Eventually trailing by 19 with 12 minutes remaining, Guilford made their run with Furr making one-of-two at the line, five-straight from Farrar on a tip-in and a trey, and then three the old-fashioned way from Furr getting the deficit to ten, but they would get no closer with the Eagles finishing the 75-61 win.
GC will battle crosstown rival Greensboro College for a neutral site clash next over at the First Horizon Coliseum on Wednesday night. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 PM.
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