DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - The Rivalry returned to the ICI Center for the first time in a decade on Tuesday night, and once again, the game lived up to the billing as Embry-Riddle downed Flagler, 108-99. The Eagles (3-0) went shot-for-shot with the Saints (1-2) as both team's offenses clicked efficiently, but it was the Eagles who got the necessary stops down the stretch to move to 25-0 all-time in home openers at the ICI Center and give Head Coach Steve Ridder his 699th career victory.

Elijah Jenkins tied a career-high with 29 points on 11-for-18 shooting, leading the Blue and Gold on the offensive end. Luka Majstorovic scored 20 points with five rebounds and three blocks, while Romeo Crouch stuffed the stat sheet with 19 points, 10 assists, six boards and three steals in his ICI Center debut. Chris Murray notched his fourth career double-double for the Eagles with 10 points and a game-high 13 rebounds.

It was an offensive clinic from the start as both teams threw haymakers early and often. For the third straight game to start 2019-20, Majstorovic scored the first bucket, and ERAU was able to build a lead of five when Jenkins hit his first triple of the night with 15:17 on the clock to make it 14-9.

The cushion went to as many as seven on a Majstorovic layup a few minutes later, but the visitors went on a 14-4 run over the next three minutes, taking a 28-25 lead on a Gedi Juozapaitis three-pointer. Tylin Lockett-Fuller sparked the Eagles with a three-point play to tie things up, and Danny Sully put ERAU in front with a layup on the next Eagle possession. Lockett-Fuller got the steal and converted both free throws when he was fouled for a 32-28 Eagle lead with eight minutes to play in the first.

David Park hit a trey and then Jenkins scored six straight as ERAU built a 41-35 lead at the five-minute mark, but the Saints again had an answer, going on a 13-6 run, as Damerit Brown, who scored 30 against ERAU a year ago in St. Augustine, went off from deep, as Flagler went in front, 48-47.

Both teams went back-and-forth the next few times down the floor, but a Dru Nickson three put ERAU in front, 52-50 before Allante Pickens returned the favor for FC on the other end. Nickson's fellow freshman Makerere Williams stepped in with a pair of big foul shots to retake the lead for ERAU, and then with the clock winding down, Nick Heard drew an offensive foul against the Saints and Crouch hit a buzzer-beating triple at the half for the second game in a row, this time from halfcourt. That sequence would prove to be big as ERAU took a 57-53 lead into the lockerroom.

Coming out of the break, the Eagles looked to take control of the game, going up by as many as a dozen early on when Jenkins connected on a three-pointer to make it 70-58. The Eagles pushed the advantage out to 14 on a couple of occasions over the next moments, but the Saints made one final attempt at a comeback.

Trailing 90-77 after a Crouch trey, Flagler went on a quick, 10-3 run to trim the deficit to six, but a couple of free throws from Heard stopped the bleeding, and the Eagles got a stop on the defensive end before Jenkins hit a jumper in the paint to make it a double-digit game with five minutes to go.

Juozapaitis' three with 2:24 on the clock made it 104-97, but the home team closed the game out by going 4-for-6 at the free throw line to seal the win.

The Eagles shot 52 percent from the floor (39-for-75) and 38 percent from deep (14-for-37), needing nearly all of them as Flagler ended the night shooting 53 percent from the field (35-for-66) and connecting on 20 three-pointers in 38 attempts (53 percent). Juozapaitis finished with 35 points, while Brown had 25 points in the losing effort.

"We're extremely proud of our guys finding different ways to win," Ridder said. "Tonight we were very efficient offensively and found a way to get some important stops late in the second half and we feel really good about our basketball team right now."

The Eagles host the 20th Daytona Mitsubishi / Kia Shootout this weekend as Auburn Montgomery, Spring Hill and Puerto Rico-Mayaguez come to the ICI Center. The Eagles will take on SHC on Friday at 7 p.m. after AUM and UPRM tip at 5 p.m., and then the Blue and Gold play AUM on Saturday at 7 p.m. following SHC and UPRM at 5 p.m.