DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Denny Joseph and Tyler DeBord scored 19 points apiece to lead the No. 5 Embry-Riddle University men's basketball to its fourth Daytona Mitsubishi Shootout Championship with a 77-68 victory against Methodist (N.C.) Saturday night at the ICI Center.
Both players earned All-Tournament honors, while Joseph was selected MVP for his efforts. The senior guard recorded 18 points on 7-for-11 shooting in 19 minutes in ERAU's first round 89-49 win against Brevard (N.C.) and then followed with the 19 tonight on 6-for-12 shooting with two long-range buckets, seven rebounds, three assists and four steals.
Joining the Eagle duo on the All-Tourney squad were Methodist's junior Travis Winstead and senior Brandon Williams, Brevard's Jonathan Whitson and Baruch's George Kunkel. Winstead finished with 21 points (7-for-10 from the field including 4-of-6 from downtown) in the title loss, while Williams who lifted the Monarchs into the title game with 22 points and nine boards on Friday night, closed out the event with 12 points and six boards. Whitson had 20 points, 11 rebounds, five blocks, four assists and one steal leading Brevard to a 79-73 consolation game victory against Baruch. Kunkel finished with 11 points, 12 boards, four assists, two blocks and one steal in the loss for the Bearcats.
After sizzling start on Friday night, ERAU (8-1) came out with another strong opening run outscoring Methodist 22-6 in the first 11 minutes of the game and looked as though they would deliver another crushing defeat similar to Friday's 40-point victory against Brevard. However, Methodist methodically crept back into the game with a 19-9 run over the next seven minutes closing the gap to 31-25 with 1:59 to go before the intermission.
The run was sparked by stronger defensive pressure from the Monarchs (2-2) which forced eight ERAU turnovers and the Eagles only converted 2-of-6 from the floor.
After trailing 35-29 at the break, the Monarchs' late run momentum carried over in the second half as they cut the lead to just one at 42-41 at the 14:40 mark. However, the Eagles never relinquished the lead and rebuilt a seven-point cushion with three points from DeBord and a Denver Cobb three-pointer. Cobb finished with 13 points and six boards on the night.
Methodist got back to within six at 51-45 on Adrian Bascom's jumper, but ERAU quickly regained a double-digit advantage with a 7-0 run sparked by the duo of Ryan Exter and Joseph. Exter connected on a pair of free throws, then found Joseph for a layup and then Joseph sank a three-pointer on a Ryan Ridder feed to put the Eagles up 58-45 with 9:25 to go.
Ridder finished with four assists and Nick Miller also added four helpers on the evening, while Exter who struggled from the floor going 1-for-10 found a way to contribute going 7-for-8 from the charity stripe and added two assists in 34 minutes of action.
Methodist made one last run when trailing 68-58 with 3:53 left A.B. Lehmann hit a three-pointer and after a turnover and misses by both teams, Williams layup with 2:10 made it a five-point game 68-63. It remained a five-point game with 1:15 to go, but ERAU scored seven of the next eight to go up 77-66 with 11 seconds before Travis McBryde ended the scoring with a dunk with two ticks left.
Dragan Radmanovic finished with a double-double for the Monarchs with 12 points and 11 boards.
ERAU returns to action on the road Wednesday Dec. 6 at Johnson & Wales (Fla.) in Miami and then are idle until they travel to NAIA Division I Robert Morris (Ill.) College for their tournament Dec. 15-16 in Chicago, Ill. The tournament also features traditional NAIA DII power Cardinal Stritch (Wis.) and independent Wright State University (Ohio) Lake Campus.
