DAYTONA BEACH, Florida - At times it wasn't pretty, but it certainly was exciting on Thursday night in the ICI Center, as the Embry-Riddle men's basketball team overcame a 13-point deficit in the final eight minutes to emerge with an 83-77 victory over the St. Thomas Bobcats in an exhibition game. The Eagles had to shrug off a poor shooting performance in the first period, as well as big foul trouble for their big men, and were able to thanks to a 29-10 run over the final eight minutes.

Embry-Riddle completely dominated the final eight minutes of the contest, finishing 11-for-12 from the field and 4-for-4 from the charity stripe, all while holding STU 3-for-12 from the floor.

A triple by the Bobcats' D'Andre Johnson at the 8:07 mark of the second gave the visitors their biggest lead of the game at 67-54, but Romeo Crouch started the host's rally with a trey of his own a few seconds later, and Head Coach Steve Ridder quickly called a timeout for ERAU to regroup.

The Bobcats missed a pair of layups on their possession coming out of the timeout, and Elijah Jenkins was able to grab the rebound on the second miss and found a streaking Crouch down the floor for a quick layup, cutting the deficit to 67-59.

A missed jumper by STU was boarded by David Park and Jenkins hit a tough step-back jumper in the paint to make it a two-possession game.

St. Thomas made a pair of free throws around the six-minute mark to push the lead back to eight, and the Eagles missed their only shot over the final eight minutes on their next possession. Justyn Rogers was fouled on his shot attempt for the Bobcats and went 1-for-2 at the line to make it 70-61 before Crouch was fouled on the other end, making both free throws.

A layup from Rogers with 5:22 to go was the last points STU would muster for three minutes as the home team got a jumper from true freshman Michael McCalister, then a defensive rebound from the rookie, followed by a fastbreak triple from Jenkins as suddenly the lead was just 72-68 for St. Thomas.

The Eagles forced back-to-back missed three-pointers and then a Bobcat turnover on the next couple STU possessions, with McCalister coming away with a steal and then the Ocoee native sunk two free throws after being fouled on the offensive end, making it a 72-70 game with 3:35 left.

McCalister again came up with a massive turnover for the Blue and Gold and hit a wide open trey in the corner off a pass from Jon Alessandro as the Eagles took their first lead since early in the first half.

A stop by the Eagle defense led to a Jenkins jumper in the paint, capping a 7-0 Eagle run before the Bobcats stopped the bleeding momentarily with a layup, trimming the Eagle lead to 75-74 with two minutes left.

Who else but McCalister hit a contested layup off the feed from Crouch on the next Eagle possession, and after STU split a pair of free throws on the other end, Nikola Jerotic made a tough jumper in the paint to push the lead to 79-75 with 60 seconds remaining.

St. Thomas made a layup to get back within two, but Jerotic again slipped past his defender for a bucket and a two-possession cushion with 33 ticks on the clock.

A missed trey for the Bobcats and rebound by Crouch sealed the deal and Crouch found Jenkins for a layup on the other end to punctuate the furious comeback.

ERAU needed the comeback after trailing 45-34 at the break, as the home team managed just 28.6% from the floor and 21.4% from deep in the first period. The Eagles came out of the lockerroom and went on a 9-0 run to get to within 45-43, but a Rogers jumper stopped the run and the Eagles would only get to within a possession on three more occassions over the next few minutes before STU started to pull away, eventually going up by 13 on the Johnson three-pointer at the 8:07 mark.

Embry-Riddle switched gears in the second half, shooting 55.6% from the floor and 40% from three, finishing the night at 42.3% from the field and 29.2% from long range.

Romeo Crouch had 20 points to lead the Eagles, also grabbed seven rebounds and dishing out five assists. Jenkins finished with 17 points, all coming in the second half, on 8-for-11 shooting, with four rebounds and three assists, while McCalister came off the bench for 15 points, seven boards, four steals and two blocks.

Allesandro chipped in 10 points, five rebounds, and four helpers, and Cj Henagan had six points, seven rebounds and three assists. Jerotic has seven points, three boards, two assists, and two steals.

The Eagles will travel to Gainesville on Monday to take on NCAA I Florida in their final exhibition game of the 2021-22 season. The game can be viewed on SEC Network+.

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The 2021-22 Embry-Riddle Men's Basketball season is presented by Daytona Kia.