SAINT LEO, Florida - Romeo Crouch did Romeo Crouch things to force overtime, and Nikola Jerotic went for a career-high 20 points in No. 8/18 Embry-Riddle men's basketball's 92-87 win over Saint Leo on Saturday, giving the Eagles their first-ever win at the Marion Bowman Activities Center. The Eagles (9-1, 2-0) erased a 10-point deficit with under seven minutes to play, sending the Lions (4-4, 1-2) to their second SSC loss of the season.

The fireworks came late for the visitors, as they struggled shooting the ball from deep on Saturday, hitting just 10 in 38 attempts. Trailing 69-59 at the 6:45 mark, Malcolm Whitlow got the Eagle rally started with his lone three-pointer of the night before his jumper a few moments later cut the deficit to five.

A missed Lion shot was boarded by Elijah Jenkins and the senior nailed a fast break triple to make it a one possession game. The Lions went back up four, but Crouch hit a three to make it a one-point game, and a three-pointer on the other end pushed it back to a four-point lead for Saint Leo.

The Eagles came up empty on their next possession, and then were forced to foul. Saint Leo hit just one of its two free throws, but once again ERAU couldn't convert on the offensive end.

Saint Leo missed the front-end of the next 1-and-1 the Lions shot, and Crouch then converted on both his free throws following a foul, making it 75-72. After a foul on the Eagles, Saint Leo made both free throws to make it a five-point game with less than 15 seconds left.

Crouch's off-balance, fade away three made it a one-possession game, and then the senior came up with the play of the game up to that point, stealing the SLU in-bounds pass and then was immediately fouled, hitting both free throws to tie the game at 77-77 with 5.6 seconds left.

Saint Leo called a timeout to set up a last-second play, but the Eagle defense held, forcing a tough shot that came up short and the game moved to overtime.

Jerotic accounted for the first two Eagle baskets in the extra period, but Saint Leo stayed with the visitors, tying the game at 81-81 on another pair of free throws.

Each team hit a jumper for an 83-83 game prior to Crouch hitting one-of-two at the charity stripe for a one-point ERAU lead.

The Eagles got a big defensive stop from their Serbian, and then Jerotic grabbed the rebound on the next Lion possession. 

Whitlow found an absolutely wide open Alessandro in the corner on the Eagles' next offensive trip and the sophomore from Ohio drilled it to give the Eagles their biggest lead since early in the second half.

The Eagle defense again stood strong, as Whitlow and Crouch combined for a steal, and then Jerotic tipped in a Whitlow miss for an 89-83 lead with under a minute to play.

Saint Leo made a driving layup and got an and-one call, making it once again a one-possession game at 89-86.

The Eagles broke the Saint Leo press and Alessandro found an open Jerotic streaking to the bucket for a 91-86 lead.

The Eagles and Lions traded lone free throws over the final nine seconds, but the Lions' last possession was a missed three that was blocked by Whitlow, giving the Blue and Gold its first-ever win at the Bowman Center.

The start of the game was all ERAU as the Eagles hit their first three shots, taking a 9-2 lead when Nikola Jerotic hit a layup following an offensive rebound. However, the Lions responded with a 6-0 run to trim the ERAU lead to one at 9-8.

Crouch hit up a pull-up jumper from beyond the arc, followed by a nice individual move from Jon Alessandro, ending in a turnaround jumper that put the visitors up 14-8. 

The two teams traded mini-runs over the next few minutes, one of which from Saint Leo made it a 20-19 Eagle lead. Michael McCalister was able to stop the bleeding with a layup before Crouch came up with a steal and slam on the ensuing SLU possession to push the lead to 24-19.

A tough, contested three by the Lions with the shot clock winding down cut the Eagle advantage to 28-27 and then Saint Leo hit three free throws to take a 30-28 lead. Cj Henagan's triple put the Eagles back in front.

The two squads traded points for several minutes, with the majority of the Lions' points coming at the free throw line. ERAU didn't shoot its first free throws until just over three minutes left, and Nick Heard's two from the charity stripe tied the game at 35-35.

Over the final three minutes of the first half, the Eagles could only manage two points off an Alessandro jumper, and the Lions took a 41-37 lead into the break.

Saint Leo shot 15 free throws in the opening period, making good on 12 of them, while ERAU was just 3-for-17 from deep in the first half.

Alessandro had 10 points for ERAU in the first, while Crouch finished the 20-minute period with nine points, five rebounds, two assists, and two steals.

The Eagles opened the second half on a quick 5-0 run, a Jenkins three and then an Alessandro steal and lay-in to re-take the lead briefly.

After a Saint Leo bucket, the Eagles went on another 5-0 run, going up 47-43 at the under-16 media timeout.

Saint Leo went on a 7-0 run to take a 55-53 midway through the second half, and following the under-12 media timeout, the Lions stretched it to a 13-0 run before the Blue and Gold called a timeout, trailing 61-53 at the 9:01 mark before the Eagles were able to claw their way back over the final few minutes of regulation.

Crouch scored a game-high 24 points, grabbing nine rebounds, and finishing with four assists, two blocks, and two steals. Jerotic's career-high 20 points came on 10-for-12 shooting from the floor. He also added eight rebounds, and four assists. Alessandro was the other Eagle in double-digits with 19 points, six boards, five helpers, and one steal.

Embry-Riddle returns home on Wednesday, Dec. 8 to host Tampa in their SSC home opener. Tip in the ICI Center is set for 7:30 p.m.

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