WINTER PARK, Florida - Elijah Jenkins dropped a game-high 33 points and the Embry-Riddle men's basketball team connected on 17 three-pointers on Wednesday night to defeat Rollins, 90-78. The No. 8/18 Eagles (8-1, 1-0) begin the Sunshine State Conference schedule with a win, and stretch their winning steak over the Tars (5-3, 0-2) to six straight.

Unlike previous games at Warden Arena, the Eagles started slowly, trailing 9-3 before a Romeo Crouch triple started the visitors on an 8-2 run that knotted the score at 11-11 after a Jon Alessandro bucket.

The two teams traded buckets for the next several minutes, and at the nine-minute mark the Tars led 26-22, with Crouch accounting for a dozen of ERAU's 22 points. 

Michael McCalister hit an open triple and then got a steal and slam to give the Eagles their first lead of the night at. 27-26, as the Ocoee native got a rousing ovation from his cheering section and the rest of the Eagle fans in attendance in Winter Park.

Back-to-back triples from Elijah Jenkins gave the Eagles a 35-29 advantage, leading to a Tar timeout with 4:20 on the clock.

The Tars took advantage of some offensive rebounds over the last few minutes of the first half, but Jenkins' hot hand from beyond the arc kept ERAU in front. Jenkins hit three from deep as the Blue and Gold took a 40-37 lead into the break.

Crouch led all scorers at the half with 12, but Rollins owned a 22-11 advantage on the boards and a 10-3 lead on second chance points.

ERAU opened the second half with some excellent passing and team defense, going on an 11-5 run to take a 51-42 lead on an easy layup from Nikola Jerotic off an Alessandro feed.

A Jenkins trey had the Eagles up a dozen at the under-16 media timeout, and the Eagles continued their efficient offense for the next few minutes, forcing Tom Klusman to burn a timeout with 12:39 left in regulation as ERAU led 61-46 following a Jenkins made jumper.

Embry-Riddle enjoyed a comfortable lead for much of the second half, but a 6-0 Rollins run got things down to an eight-point game before a huge Crouch three pushed the lead back to double-digits at 81-70.

Jenkins' ninth three-pointer just under two minutes left made it 84-72, but the Tars answered with a three of their own 42 seconds later to get it back to single digits.

Rollins had fouls to give and had to commit five of them before Crouch was sent to the line with 44.9 seconds left. He hit both, but again the Tars got a three from Kyle Marion, who finished with 32 points on the night to trim the Eagle lead to 86-78. 

Crouch was fouled again and calmly nailed both free throws and then came up with the game-sealing steal on the defensive end, his third of the evening, before David Park was fouled and connected on both free throws for the 90-78 final.

Jenkins finished with 33 points on 12-for-19 shooting, including nine three-pointers. Crouch had 19 points, six assists, five rebounds, and three steals for ERAU, and McCalister went for 15 points, three boards, and three assists off the bench.

ERAU registered 23 assists on the night, and out-rebounded the Tars in the second half by four.

Embry-Riddle stays on the road to take on Saint Leo this coming Saturday, Dec. 4 at. 4 p.m.

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