FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla. - The Embry-Riddle men's basketball team hung tough with one of the best team's in the country on Saturday afternoon, but ultimately, the fifth-ranked Nova Southeastern Sharks were able to hold off the Eagles, 109-98 in Sunshine State Conference action. The Eagles (9-13, 2-9 SSC) had one of their better shooting games so far in 2019, but the Sharks (16-1, 10-1 SSC) were deadly from deep, nailing 16 triples, and nearly perfect from the free throw line, going 25-for-27 in the contest to move past ERAU for the season sweep of the Eagles.

Embry-Riddle had three players reach the 20-point plateau, including a career game from Cj Henagan as the redshirt freshman went for a career-best 20 points to go along with four rebounds and a pair of steals. Henagan went 7-for-9 off the bench, including a 5-for-6 effort from beyond the arc. Nashad Mackey finished with a team-best 24 points and nine boards, while Alston Jones had 20 points, five assists, four rebounds and two steals. Luka Majstorovic also finished in double-figures with 15 points, four rebounds, two assists and two blocks.

The first five minutes of the game proved to be the exact opposite of the rest of the game as neither team could get anything going with the hosts leading 3-2 at the first media timeout. Mackey put ERAU up 8-5 with a layup at the 14:40 mark and that started a streak of nine straight Eagle points scored by the senior, capped by an and-one on a three-pointer that gave the Eagles a 16-12 lead at the 12:22 mark.

The first half went back-and-forth, and Jones was able to tie the game at 39-39 with a layup at the 3:27 mark, however, a Dwayne Gibson trey on the next NSU possession sparked an 11-2 run for the Sharks to end the half as they took a 50-41 lead into the break.

Embry-Riddle stayed tight with the hosts, getting to within five on a Jones layup with 15:43 on the clock (59-54), and the senior again got the Eagles to within five with a three-pointer a few moments later, cutting the NSU lead to 65-60.

With NSU holding an 81-70 lead with just under 10 minutes left, the Eagles got a quick 5-0 spurt from a Mackey layup and Tylin Lockett-Fuller three, trimming the deficit to six, but that would be as close as ERAU could manage the rest of the way. The Sharks answered nearly every Eagle basket with a basket of their own, or a pair of free throws, with their last 14 points coming at the charity stripe.

NSU shot 52 percent from the field and 67 percent from three (16-for-24), out-doing the Eagles' 50 percent (39-for-78) and 44 percent (10-for-23) efforts, respectively.

ERAU returns home to host Rollins on Jan. 30 for Food Brings Hope night at the ICI Center. Tip is set for 7:30 p.m.