HARRISONBURG, Va. SVU had four double figure scorers on Monday night but came up just short in their bid to topple the EMU Royals as EMU went on to a 80-71 non-conference win over Southern Virginia University Monday night in Yoder Arena.

The Knights fall to 6-6 on the year (6-4 non DI schedule ) while the Royals improve to 8-5.

The Knights were paced by 13 points from Cory Evans, Bryce Pendleton, and Ade Swann. J.J. Holt finished with 11 points, seven assists, and seven steals.

EMU never trailed in the first half until less than a minute remaining as a double-digit lead by the home team (29-19, 5:01 remaining) ended up in a 33 all tie. The Knights used a 12-4 run to tie things up with 34 seconds remaining only to have Johnson drop in a jumper with 25 ticks left to send the home team to the locker room with a two-point lead (35-33).

Ade Swann had 11 points in the first half.

In the second half the Knights lived and died by the long ball as SVU went ahead by a point on a three-pointer from Pendleton to start the half. Three straight Royal scores enabled EMU to take a five point advantage only to have SVU answer back and close to only one (41-40 with 17:17 left). A Johnson three and a tomahawk slam dunk by Phillips put momentum back on the home bench. SVU stole that thunder quickly as they silenced the home crowd with a jumper from Dele Opeifa and a three-pointer from Holt. Opeifa eventually tied the game at 47 all with 13:59 on the clock as neither team was able to gain more than a five-point advantage.

SVU took their second lead of the game at the 9:24 mark as Swann drove down the court, stopped to the left of the charity stripe, and dropped in another jumper to give the visiting squad a 55-54 edge. EMU then pulled the long ball out of their offensive arsenal as Hinson drained one of his three three-pointers on the day to put the Royals up two. That three keyed an eventual 12-0 run by EMU that saw baskets from Twine and Pancione and another long ball from Johnson.

With EMU up 66-55 Southern Virginia sank a crucial three-pointer and then two straight baskets to cut the deficit down to four (66-62 with 4:03 left). The Royals went back up by six and kept the Knights off the defensive glass as EMU out-rebounded SVU 5-1 in the games final three minutes to close out the win.

The Knights return to action on Wednesday at 6PM at home in “The Barn” as they take on USCAA opponent PSU-Greater Allegheny