DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Despite five players in double-figures and the 20th double-double of the season from Nashad Mackey, the Embry-Riddle men's basketball team was held off by the Eckerd Tritons on Wednesday night, 90-84. The Eagles (10-15, 4-13 SSC) were officially eliminated from Sunshine State Conference Tournament contention, while the Tritons (18-6, 11-6 SSC) complete the season sweep of the Blue and Gold.

Eckerd led for all by 26 seconds in the game, shooting 52 percent from the floor, including 44 percent from three and an 83 percent clip from the free throw line. The Tritons had a pair of 20-point scorers in Drushaun McLaurn and Trevon Young, each scoring 21 on the night.

Eckerd jumped out to a 9-0 lead before the Eagles could get on the board with a Luka Majstorovic layup off the first of a career-high eight assists from Elijah Jenkins, and the home team followed with five straight points from Mackey, trimming the lead to 9-7 on a Mackey trey.

The Tritons pushed their lead to 22-12 on a Marco Behori fastbreak layup at the 12:12 mark, but Embry-Riddle went on a 9-4 run over the next five minutes, capped by a Joshua Hawkins tip-in to make it 26-21 in favor of the visitors.

Majstorovic's layup at the 5:43 mark made it a one possession game, 28-25, but Eckerd answered with back-to-back made threes to push the lead back to nine. 

Brian Johnson missed a three with 21 second left that would have made it a three-point game at half as Eckerd took a 42-36 lead into the break. Mackey had 19 points in the first to pace the Eagles.

Out of the halftime break the Eagles got an immediate three from Rudy Bibb-Boyd, and a few moments later, two free throws from Hawkins cut the deficit to just one, 44-43. The two teams went back-and-forth until the 14-minute mark when the Tritons started a 10-2 run to make it 64-52 on a Blake Morrow trey.

The advantage grew to as many as 15 at the 6:37 mark, but the resilient Eagles battled back, starting with a Cole Hunter layup. Jenkins' three with three minutes to play cut the lead to under 10, and then Johnson followed with another from long range to make it 86-80.

Eckerd missed a three with 1:53 to go, but Young grabbed an offensive board and was fouled, making both free throws before Mackey got the two points back on the other end. After the Blue and Gold got a stop with just over a minute left, Hawkins made a layup to cut the lead to 88-84, but Morrow buried the game's biggest shot, a jumper from the elbow to push the lead back to six and the Eagles would not score the rest of the game.

Both teams shot over 50 percent from the field, with Mackey finishing with 25 points and 14 rebounds. Hw was joined by Majstorovic (15), Hawkins (14), Johnson (12) and Hunter (10) in double-digits as Bibb-Boyd saw his streak of of reaching double-figures snapped at 22 consecutive games. Jenkins' eight assists led the way for the Eagles as Bibb-Boyd added six helpers and Johnson contributed four.

Embry-Riddle hits the road for back-to-back road games, starting on Saturday, Feb. 17 at Tampa with tip slated for 4 p.m.

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