DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - The No.5 Embry-Riddle Eagles slid by the Edward Waters Tigers in a 83-78 battle, in their home Florida Sun Conference opener at the ICI Center on Saturday. ERAU moves to 17-1 overall and posts a 2-0 FSC record, while the Tigers end the night with an 8-5 overall and 0-2 FSC record.
Embry-Riddle showed that they were glad to be playing in front of its home crowd of 528 fans in the first half of the game, going up 8-4 early in the game and increasing the lead before intermission to 13, as the score at half was in favor of the Eagles 44-31.
The Tigers came within four points of the Eagles with 4:28 left in the game. Two more scoreless possessions on both ends of the court led to a three-pointer from five feet beyond the arc by junior guard Denver Cobb to put ERAU back up by seven. EWC scored on its next two possessions to move back within three. The Eagles went up by four on a free throw made by sophomore forward Eric Lorenzi but it was not enough to stop the Tigers momentum as Jean Metelus dribbled down the court and pulled up at the three-point line, hitting his shot and putting the Tigers within one.
The Blue and Gold missed their next attempt down the floor but played tough defense on the Tigers' half of the court, forcing EWC to shoot an off-balance shot and giving the Eagles the ball. The two teams called back-to-back time outs with 27 seconds left before the Eagles were able to run two seconds off the clock by putting the ball in the hands of Cobb, who was fouled and sunk both of his shots at the charity stripe.
Metelus drove the lane with 23 seconds left and dished the ball to Arnold Henry, who laid the ball in the hoop while drawing a foul. With the Eagles fans cheering, Henry missed his attempt from the line and Cobb grabbed the ball only to be fouled again, repeating his last trip to the line.
With nine seconds left, Metelus missed a three-point attempt but a defensive-deadball resulted on the rebound, giving the Tigers one last shot. EWC was unable to inbound to a purple uniform turning the ball over to the Eagles. Junior guard Rocky Pierre hit two more free throws to put the Blue and Gold up by five, solidifying the win.
Four of the Eagles' starters tallied points in double-digits with Cobb leading the flock with 21 points. He also had five rebounds and five assists. Lorenzi was a big factor on defense for ERAU as he charted his third double-double of the season with 15 points and 13 rebounds. Junior post player Tyler DeBord had 19 points and eight rebounds. Pierre tallied 16 points while grabbing four boards, three steals and three assists.
The Eagles will return to action on Wednesday, travelling to MIami Gardens to face off against St. Thomas at 7 p.m.
