DAYTONA BEACH, Florida - The Embry-Riddle men's basketball team rebounded from a tough loss on Wednesday by rebounding the basketball on Saturday in an 84-65 win over visiting Saint Leo. The Eagles (16-5, 9-3 SSC) grabbed 19 more boards then the Lions (8-10, 5-8 SSC), including 18 offensive caroms, en route to a 19-point victory, completing the season sweep of SLU. Romeo Crouch became the fastest Eagle ever to score 1,000 points in an ERAU uniform, while Jon Alessandro and Malcolm Whitlow both had big nights for the Blue and Gold as well.

The Eagles attempted 22 more shots than the Lions, and turned 15 Saint Leo turnovers into 24 points, while also dominating the paint to the tune of a 38-20 point advantage. Crouch's 21 led all Eagle scorers, and he also added eight assists, and six rebounds. Alessandro's 15 points where the most for him since his 19 against the Lions back in December, and he pulled down five boards, and dished out four helpers. Whitlow chipped in 14 points, four rebounds, two assists, and two steals to the ERAU effort.

Saint Leo got out to a 5-0 lead before Crouch connected on a three for the 51st consecutive game, and Elijah Jenkins tied the game on a jumper a few minutes later, making it 10-10 with 14:11 left to play in the first. ERAU took its first lead of the night when Crouch made a driving layup at the 10:57 mark (16-14), and the Eagles got two quick buckets from Alessandro to stretch the advantage to six at 20-14.

An 8-0 run by the Blue and Gold around the six-minute mark pushed the lead out to 30-18, but the Lions got a run of their own to trim the deficit to 30-25 with just under two minutes left in the half. A crucial stretch for the Eagles the end the period helped them take an eight-point lead into the break as they got a free throw from Chris Murray and then a steal from Alessandro, and layup from Murray to make it 33-25.

Coming out of the break, the Lions went on a 15-9 run to cut the Eagle lead down to two points, but starting with an Alessandro three-pointer, the Blue and Gold had an 11-2 spurt to go up double-digits, capped by another Alessandro triple, making it 53-42 at the 13-minute mark.

The visitors were able to get within eight at 64-56, but a Jenkins three stopped the Lions' momentum, and kick started a 17-6 run for the hosts that put the game well out fo reach.

Cj Henagan had four assists, and four rebounds off the bench for the Eagles, with Jenkins finished with nine points, Murray going for nine points, and eight rebounds, and Nikola Jerotic finishing with eight points, and four boards. Michael McCalister provided valuable minutes off the bench for the Blue and Gold, scoring eight points and grabbed five rebounds.

Crouch entered the night needing 17 points to become the 32nd member of Embry-Riddle's 1,000 point club, and his jumper at the 11:25 mark in the second half secured that spot for him. In 51 career games for Embry-Riddle, Crouch has scored 1,004 points, beating out former Eagle All-Americans Jason Cruse, and David Butler as the fastest Eagle to reach the 1,000 point scoring plateau; the pair of big men did it in 57 games each.

The Eagles wrap up their three-game home stand on Wednesday by hosting Florida Tech at 7:30 p.m.

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