JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- The brand new surroundings of the Edward Waters College Adams/Jenkins Center gymnasium, which opened this year, certainly added to the home court advantage along with its loud pep band and crowd.  These coupled with strong defensive pressure, helped the Tigers post a 62-56 victory against No. 7 Embry-Riddle Wednesday night to gain a share of first-place in the FSC men's basketball standings.

Mistakes by the ERAU offense forced by the Tiger defense surrounding the ball proved to be one of the biggest factors. The Eagles committed an uncustomary 26 turnovers after entering the night averaging 15.4 per game.

In addition, the Eagles were without the services of Ryan Exter, ERAU's third-leading scorer, who broke his middle finger on his shooting hand at practice last weekend. This added to an already depleted offense that has played the past nine games without leading scorer Denny Joseph (15.4 ppg).

After the teams came out cold with EWC going 2-for-9 and ERAU shooting 3-for-8 in the first six minutes of the game and combining for eight turnovers. Despite
the offensive struggles, the Eagles found themselves leading 8-6 at the 14:13 mark on Nick Miller's tip-in.

However, the Tigers went on an 11-0 run to build their largest lead of the half 17-8 with 8:56 to go before the intermission. Embry-Riddle chipped away at the lead
closing the gap to one point at 17-16, 19-18 and 26-25 before James Perry sank two free throws with seven seconds to go in the half to give EWC a 28-25 lead heading into the locker room. Neither team got on track from the field as the Eagles shot 28.0 percent (7-for-25), while Edward Waters was 9-for-28 (32.1 percent) and the teams combined for 26 first-half turnovers.

Both teams looked to their backcourt for the offensive presence as Trey Bain led the Tigers with 13 in the opening half going 4-for-7 from the floor (3-for-4 beyond
the arc, while Denver Cobb paced ERAU with 10 (3-for-7 from the field, 1-for-4 from downtown).

Embry-Riddle gained the lead at the 17:40 mark of the second half and maintained the advantage for the next nine minutes. However, EWC's Bobby Brown tied it with a pair of free throws and James Perry gave the Tigers the 49-47 lead at the 8:04 mark.

Edward Waters never relinquished the lead pushing the margin to seven with 2:54 to go on another Perry layup. Perry finished 14 (10 in the second half), Bain added 19 to lead all scorers and Edward Turner posted 10 points.

ERAU finished the night shooting 30.6 percent (19-for-62). Houston Wright returned to the lineup after a 10-game absence due to injury, but was 0-for-8 from the floor, Murat Hisarkaya was 1-for-7 and Miller was 2-for-9.

Miller finished with eight points and 15 boards, Tyler DeBord posted 12 points and 12 rebounds and Denver Cobb led the Eagles with 18 points.

EDWARD WATERS (FLA.) 62, EMBRY-RIDDLE (FLA.) 56
EMBRY-RIDDLE (FLA.) (19-4, 4-1 FSC)
Denver Cobb 5-13 5-5 18; Tyler DeBord 5-11 2-2 12; William Benjamin 4-6 0-0
8; Nick Miller 2-9 4-6 8; Ryan Ridder 1-5 2-2 5; Murat Hisarkaya 1-7 0-0 2;
Drew Whitaker 1-3 0-0 2; Houston Wright 0-8 1-2 1. Totals 19-62 14-17 56.
EDWARD WATERS (FLA.) (10-9, 4-1 FSC)
Trey Bain 6-12 3-3 19; James Perry 5-14 4-4 14; Edward Turner 4-4 0-0 10;
Bobby Brown 1-7 4-6 6; Ozzie Henderson 1-9 3-6 5; Wardney Leonis 0-3 4-6 4;
Lemund Sampson 1-2 0-2 2; Jeff Wimbush 1-4 0-0 2; Brian Henderson 0-0 0-0 0;
Kareem Dennis 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 19-55 18-27 62.
Embry-Riddle (Fla.)........... 25 31 - 56
Edward Waters (Fla.).......... 28 34 - 62
3-point goals--Embry-Riddle (Fla.) 4-22 (Denver Cobb 3-9; Ryan Ridder 1-4;
Murat Hisarkaya 0-4; Drew Whitaker 0-2; Houston Wright 0-3), Edward Waters
(Fla.) 6-13 (Trey Bain 4-6; Edward Turner 2-2; Bobby Brown 0-1; Jeff Wimbush
0-1; James Perry 0-3). Fouled out--Embry-Riddle (Fla.)-Nick Miller, Edward
Waters (Fla.)-None. Rebounds--Embry-Riddle (Fla.) 52 (Nick Miller 15),
Edward Waters (Fla.) 31 (Ozzie Henderson 7). Assists--Embry-Riddle (Fla.) 11
(Ryan Ridder 3; Nick Miller 3), Edward Waters (Fla.) 9 (James Perry 4).
Total fouls--Embry-Riddle (Fla.) 20, Edward Waters (Fla.) 14. Technical
fouls--Embry-Riddle (Fla.)-None, Edward Waters (Fla.)-None. A-545