DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Romeo Crouch only had five point at halftime of Embry-Riddle's Wednesday night game against Tampa, but the junior exploded for 19 second-half points to lead the Eagles to a decisive 77-62 win over visiting Tampa at the ICI Center. ERAU (16-8, 8-8 SSC) was tied with the Spartans (6-18, 3-12 SSC) 31-31 at the break, but thanks to Crouch and a much-improved offense in the closing period, avoided the season sweep by UT and evened its league record at .500.

Crouch finished with 24 points, seven rebounds, six assists and two steals, making five triples in the second half, while Elijah Jenkins scored 14 points with five helpers and four three-pointers and Nick Heard had 12 points, six boards and three treys. Luka Majstorovic scored just six points, but the big man was dominant defensively once again, grabbing 11 rebounds with five blocks and four assists.

The game began slow for the offenses, with David Park's three-pointer at the 12:11 mark giving ERAU an 11-9 lead. Embry-Riddle maintained a lead for most of the first half, going up by eight on a Danny Sully offensive rebound and put-back to make it 26-18 with five minutes to play. However, the Spartans, relying on Brent Duncan for most of the night, ended the half on an 8-0 run, including three free throws from Jacob Harris to knot the score at 31-31 before the half ended.

The visitors scored the first points of the second period, a three from Gio Diaz, but a few moments later when Heard got a pass from Crouch and buried an open trey, the Eagles took the lead for good at 41-40. The started a run for the Blue and Gold that included five-straight from Crouch and capped by a Jenkins triple to give ERAU its biggest lead of the night, up to that point: 52-43.

Tampa answered with a mini-run, but after the Spartans got within four, the Eagles put the game away with an 11-1 run, capped by a Majstorovic layup.

UT would get no closer than 10 the rest of the night and Crouch put an exclamation point on his game with a three with 25 seconds to go to account for the 77-62 final.

Majstorovic did move past Ryan Exter on the all-time scoring chart and now stands 13th overall with 1,508 points.

The Eagles will look to win their third straight on Saturday when they head to Melbourne to take on Florida Tech for a 4 p.m. tip.