ATLANTA, Ga. – The Vikings ran out of gas against the #9 ranked Emory University Eagles, 90-65 loss on the road.
Berry was paced by a tied season-high of 17 points on 5-for-6 shooting from the field by Drew Winegarden. His junior running mate, Canon Armstead, rounded out the double-digit efforts for Berry with 10 points while shooting an efficient 2-4 from beyond the arc.
Emory started the game with a turnover, but it didn't prove costly as they managed to keep the Vikings off the scoreboard and put themselves ahead with a three. On the other end, Issac Martin responded, getting the offense going for Berry with a jumper. After a promising start allowed the Vikings to jump out to a four-point lead, the offense began to stall out, and the Eagles completely swung the pendulum in their favor, putting together a 12-0 run, forcing the Vikings to call for a timeout.
Coming out of the break, Grant Stubbs hit a three to slow the bleeding, and Canon Armstead followed it up with a three of his own to bring the deficit back down to five. Despite showing the range, the Eagles refused to let up, keeping the Vikings down by at least two possessions.
The Vikings showed some signs of life before the end of the half, but the Eagles created more of a cushion before ending the half, taking a seven-point lead into the break, the score 37-30.
The Vikings were not out of reach, but they'd have a hard battle ahead of them as the Eagles extended their advantage to nine with the first bucket of the second half. Drew Winegarden got the Vikings on the board, making the deficit a more manageable six points as he made another three. However, the Eagles were relentless, and extended their lead back to double digits with two minutes off the clock in the second half.
Emory continued forcing the issue and threatened to take a 20-point lead with 14 minutes left in the half. Chase Lamey created some much-needed offense for the Vikings, nailing a three to bring the deficit back down to 16. The Vikings couldn't build anything off his bucket as the Eagles immediately matched it on the other end and cashed in a layup to extend the lead to a game-high 21 points before the Vikings called another timeout.
The Eagles were in complete control down the stretch, extending their lead out to 31 points with three minutes to go in the game.
Berry put together a little run before the final buzzer sounded to make the final score 90-65.
The Vikings look to wrap up their Georgia journey with a win as they make their way to LaGrange to take on the Panthers Saturday, December 13th, at 4:00 p.m.
