DAYTONA BEACH, Florida - With 18:35 on the clock in the second half, the Embry-Riddle men's basketball team trailed visiting Palm Beach Atlantic by 18 points on Saturday evening in the ICI Center. Eight minutes later the score was tied, and by the end of the game, the Eagles (14-4, 7-2 SSC) held a 15-point advantage over the Sailfish (5-10, 5-4 SSC) as they won, 90-75.
Romeo Crouch scored a season-high 38 points, one off of his career-best, to push the Blue and Gold to their fourth-largest comeback in program history (18), just hours after being named to the 2022 Bevo Francis Award Watch List as one of the best small college basketball players in the nation.Â
Perhaps the most telling stat from the game however was the Eagles' 35-4 advantage on the boards in the second period. The Eagles only allowed PBA four rebounds, all defensive, while registering 17 offensive, and 18 defensive boards. Embry-Riddle outscored the Sailfish, 57-29 in the closing half.
The first half looked a lot like ERAU's last first half against Eckerd on Wednesday, as the Eagles managed just 32% shooting from the floor. But instead of only being down four, as they were in St. Petersburg, the Eagles were down 13 at the break after the visitors ended the half on a 16-3 run, including a three-pointer at the buzzer from Alexander Gorton, that made it 46-33. Crouch had 13 in the first, and
Elijah Jenkins chipped in eight, but the Sailfish shot 49% from the field, connecting on eight triples and going a perfect 8-for-8 at the charity stripe.
Coming out of the locker room, it didn't seem as though the Eagles' fortunes had changed as the visitors opened the second half on a 5-0 run, capped by a Gorton three that made it 51-33 at the 18:35 mark. But then Crouch hit a jumper, followed by a defensive stop and an offensive rebound from
Chris Murray that was laid back up and in. Another defensive stop by ERAU led to another Crouch jumper, and the hosts had pulled within 51-39 in about 90 seconds of game time.
PBA missed a three and then the Eagles got two offensive rebounds on their next possession before
Nikola Jerotic was fouled, going 1-for-2 at the free throw line. A fourth-straight empty possession by the Sailfish was followed by a fastbreak layup from Murray and the once-18 point lead was whittled down to single-digits, 51-42, forcing a PBA timeout.
Crouch hit his third straight jumper on the next ERAU possession, but Jules Jasmin was able to stop the run with a jumper of his own, pushing the lead back to nine at 53-44. Jenkins was fouled in the act of shooting a three with 14:39 left to play and the senior sank all three freebies to make it a two-possession game.
A Jasmin miss was boarded by Jerotic (he finished with 11 second-half rebounds), and Murray found an open Jenkins for a trey, and just like that the Eagles were within three points, 53-50. In four minutes the Eagles had outscored Palm Beach Atlantic by 15.
Will Lee's jumper temporarily stopped the ERAU run, but Jerotic and then Crouch made layups to make it 55-54 PBA with just under 13 minutes on the clock. A few moments later
Malcolm Whitlow found Crouch with a nice pass and Crouch made a layup and was fouled, making the free throw to tie the game at 59-59 with 10:46 to play.
Jon Alessandro's jumper at the 10:06 mark gave the Eagles their first lead since early in the first half, and the Eagles then got a Crouch steal and Alessandro triple to go up 64-59. Alessandro wasn't done on his own personal, 7-0 run, making a jumper to push the Eagle lead to 66-59 with 7:45 to go, and the Sailfish couldn't seem to get closer over the next few minutes as the Eagles just continued to grow the lead, going up 11 (74-63) on two free throws from Alessandro.
Lee hit a couple three-pointers around the four-minute mark to get PBA back within five, but Crouch scored the next four points before a Whitlow steal and layup put the game out of reach.
Crouch's 38 points came on 13-for-21 shooting, with 25 points coming in the second half. He added four rebounds, four assists, and three steals to his effort. Jenkins went for 14 points, six rebounds, and thee assists, while Alessandro had 12 points, and six boards. Jerotic registered a double-double of 11 points, and a career-high 14 rebounds to go along with three steals. Whitlow chipped in nine points, six rebounds, four assists, and two steals.
The victory gave Head Coach
Steve Ridder his 730th career win, moving him past legendary coaches Norm Stewart and Jerry Tarkanian on the all-time list.
The Eagles travel to Boca Raton on Wednesday, Jan. 19Â to play Lynn at 7:30 p.m.
The 2021-22 Embry-Riddle Men's Basketball season is presented by Daytona Kia.
