DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - The Embry-Riddle men's basketball team finally got the monkey off their back on Wednesday night, beating Nova Southeastern, 91-81 in the ICI Center for the Eagles' first Sunshine State Conference win of the season. The Eagles (7-9, 1-7 SSC) have been battling injuries and illness for most of the 2017-18 season, but the offense and defense for the Blue and Gold were firing on all cylinders as ERAU sprinted out to an early lead and held on late in the second half as NSU (10-4, 4-4 SSC) clawed its way back to make it a game in the final five minutes, but the home team was up to the charge, sending the Sharks to their second-straight loss.

The Eagles shot a season-best 57 percent from the field, while holding the Sharks to their season-low of 35.5 percent, and despite losing the turnover battle, 22-14, the Eagles dominated the glass, 46-35 and owned the scoring in the paint, 42-28. The quartet of Ognjen Miljkovic, Rudy Bibb-Boyd, Nashad Mackey and Joshua Hawkins were huge in the victory, while NSU's David Dennis finished with close to a quadruple-double in the loss.

Miljkovic started the game with a layup and the Eagles jumped out to a large first-half lead, going up by 11 on a Luka Majstorovic layup at the 10:09 mark, giving ERAU an 18-7 lead. A three-pointer from NSU cut the lead to single-digits, but the Eagles answered 9-0 run, sparked by a Bibb-Boyd jumper and followed by a Mackey layup, Majstorovic trey and Brian Johnson runner, pushing the Eagle advantage to 27-10 with eight minutes to play in the first.

The two teams went back-and-forth over the final minutes of the opening period, leading to a 44-31 cushion for the home team at the break. Bibb-Boyd led all players with 15 points on 6-for-9 shooting from the floor, while Miljkovic had nine points, seven boards and six assists.

Hawkins went on a mini 4-0 run to start the second half before Bibb-Boyd canned a triple to grow the ERAU lead to 20 at 51-31. Embry-Riddle answered the Sharks on nearly every possession, leading 66-46 at the 10-minute mark on a fastbreak layup from Bibb-Boyd. But starting with an Eddie Puisis three, the visitors went on a 19-10 run over the next five minutes, trimming the deficit to single-digits at 76-67 on a Dennis jumper with 4:17 to play.

Hawkins converted two free throws to stop the run and the Eagles went 14-for-16 at the charity stripe to close out the game in the final four minutes. 

Bibb-Boyd finished with a career-high 25 points, including five three-pointers, while Miljkovic went for 18 points, a career-high 14 rebounds and six assists. Mackey registered his 11th double-double of the year with 10 points and 14 boards to go along with three assists and two steals, and Hawkins ended the night with 17 points, seven rebounds and four steals.

For NSU, Dennis had 24 points, seven rebounds, seven assists and seven steals, while Nick Smith and Malik Hardy both reached double-figures with 13 points each.

Embry-Riddle will welcome No. 10 Barry to the ICI Center on Saturday, Jan. 13 for a 6 p.m. tilt against the Bucs.

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