CHICAGO, Ill. - With Consecutive NAIA Division I Tournament Final Four Appearances, a perfect 14-0 record this season and the No. 1 national ranking, Robert Morris (Ill.) College certainly held the upperhand in tonight's RMC Holiday Tournament Championship matchup with NAIA DII No. 6 Embry-Riddle.  The talented RMC squad with multiple NCAA Division I transfers gave Embry-Riddle all it could handle as they defeated the Eagles 93-70.

From the opening tip Robert Morris (15-0) senior 6-10 forward Reggie George displayed the skills that have drawn attention from National Basketball Association scouts and actually saw him declare for the NBA draft following his junior campaign.  Fortunately for RMC, he returned and he quickly asserted himself with two layups and a jumper to help Robert Morris open with an 8-0 run, before Denver Cobb put ERAU on the board with three free throws.

Further frustrating the Eagles (10-2) early on aside from the offensive weapons of Robert Morris, was their tight man-to-man defensive pressure which limited the Eagles to just three shot attempts in the first five minutes of the game and forced  three turnovers.  

Robert Morris built their biggest lead of the first half at the 7:51 mark after Jimmie Miles hit a three-pointer for a 30-19 advantage.  However, Embry-Riddle switched to zone defense which helped spark a 10-0 run with a layup and three-pointer by Ryan Exter, a layup by Nick Miller and another long-range jumper by Cobb trimmed the Robert Morris lead to just one at 30-29 with 5:46 to go before the intermission.

But, Robert Morris responded with their own run scoring nine unanswered points to regain a double-digit advantage behind four points apiece from Freeman Taylor and Melvin Council.  Taylor finished with 12 points, 18 rebounds, five steals and four blocks, while Council had 20 points, four boards, six assists and three blocks.

Robert Morris turned it up a notch in the first eight minutes of the second half expanding their lead to 23 points at the 11:51 mark with a 67-44 advantage.  RMC's defense continued to handcuff the ERAU offense limiting the Blue and Gold to just 11-for-40 shooting in the second half (27.5 percent).  Embry-Riddle was held to a season-low 33.8 percent for the game (23-for-68) and it was the first time this season ERAU shot below 41.0 percent.

Tyler DeBord and Cobb finished with 13 points apiece, while DeBord recorded his fifth double-double of the season with 11 boards.   Miller added 11 points.

Embry-Riddle is idle until after the holidays when they participate in the Land of Magic Shootout Dec. 28-29 at the ICI Center against  a pair of NCAA Division III opponents in Mary Washington (Va.) at 7:30 p.m. on the 28th and Lebanon Valley (Pa.) at 7:30 p.m. on the 29th.