DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - The Embry-Riddle men's basketball team couldn't quite overcome a poor shooting first half, despite coming back from 18 down in the second to get within four points late, dropping their first game of the season, 95-89 to Lynn on Saturday night. The Eagles (6-1, 1-1 SSC) were out-shot by the Fighting Knights (2-0, 1-0 SSC) by more than 15 percent from the field, but were able to make it close in the waning minutes thanks to turnovers and three-point shooting.

Lynn led by seven at the break (39-32), but the Eagles got to within a possession on a Romeo Crouch three-pointer 65 seconds into the second half, but that's as close ERAU would get as the visitors went on a 27-12 run over the next six minutes, taking a 68-50 lead at the 11:49 mark of the second.

ERAU didn't go away, instead the Blue and Gold started to chip away, fueled by a frantic defensive effort of the backcourt trio of Crouch, Tylin Lockett-Fuller and Dru Nickson. The Eagles' cut the lead to 11 when Nick Heard hit a triple to make it 72-61 with just under 10 to play, and a few moments later Nickson nailed a three before a Crouch steal and layup made it 74-66. Another Lynn turnover was followed by another Nickson make from deep and the Eagles found themselves only down 74-69 with six minutes to play.

The two teams traded shots until Lynn went on a mini-run with four minutes left, getting the lead up to 87-76 before Luka Majstorovic stopped the run with a jumper. Crouch hit a three following a Lynn free throw, and after Crouch got his eighth steal of the night, setting an NCAA-era record for Embry-Riddle, David Park made a three with 1:12 left to cut the deficit to 88-84.

Christian Pevey made the biggest bucket of the night when he hit a driving layup on the next Lynn possession, and the Eagles came up empty on their's. Lynn sealed the game with five free throws down the stretch.

The Eagles were forced to come back in the second half after a first half saw them shoot just 29 percent from the floor and just 26 percent from deep. The visitors shot 50 percent in the first period and then managed an even better 60 percent in the closing half, led by Pevey's game-high 29 points. Pevey went 10-for-11 from the floor and 9-for-10 at the free throw line where the Fighting Knights made a killing, finishing the game, 27-for-31, while ERAU shot just 9-for-16 at the charity stripe.

Crouch had a team-high 25 points with eight steals (just one back of the ERAU program record of nine set by Sean Hester in 1992), and Majstorovic finished with 12 points and seven rebounds before fouling out late. Lockett-Fuller came off the bench for 12 points, seven rebounds and six assists, while Nickson had 11 points, three boards and two helpers. For the first time this season, the Eagles lost the rebounding battle, 46-39.

ERAU steps out of Sunshine State Conference play briefly next Saturday when they host Ave Maria for a 6 p.m. tip in the ICI Center.