DAYTONA BEACH, Florida - The No. 23 Embry-Riddle men's basketball team used a balanced effort on Tuesday night to begin Sunshine State Conference Tournament action, downing seventh-seeded Palm Beach Atlantic 85-71. The Eagles (22-8) improved to 27-1 all-time in the postseason when playing in the ICI Center, trailing for only 22 seconds against PBA (7-20), and putting five players into double-figures to beat the Sailfish for the third time this season.
Embry-Riddle shot 52% from the field, despite a below average effort from long range (8-for-25), and dominated the boards (43-29), while getting contributions from nearly everyone en route to the 14-point win.
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Romeo Crouch layup four minutes into the game gave the hosts an 11-5 lead, but the Sailfish tied the game a few minutes later at 15-15, and that sparked an 11-1 run for the home team, with
Malcolm Whitlow and
Nikola Jerotic combining for eight of those points.
ERAU grew its lead to 13 at 33-20 when
Elijah Jenkins hit one of his several first half pull-up jumpers, and the Eagle senior accounted for the final points of the half with another jumper to give the Blue and Gold a 43-28 advantage at the break.
Embry-Riddle dominated the first 10 minutes of the second period, pulling away from the visitors with the help of the inside play of Jerotic,
Chris Murray, and
Michael McCalister. ERAU's largest lead of the night was 74-52 on an and-one from Jerotic at the 8:40 mark, but the Sailfish had one more late charge in their, spearheaded by senior Jules Jasmin.
Jasmin and the Sailfish chipped away at the Eagle lead, getting it down to just 10 at 76-66, but Crouch took things over, scoring the next five points, including a pair of driving layups through the PBA defense, ending any hope of a visitor comeback.
Jenkins led all Eagle scorers with 19 points, while also grabbing four boards and dishing out five assists. In fact, the Eagles had three players collect five or more helpers, including Jenkins, Crouch (5), and Whitlow (6). As a team, ERAU registered 23 assists on 34 field goals. Crouch scored 17 points, while Murray narrowly missed a double-double of 11 points, and nine boards, as did McCalister, who finished with 11 points, and nine rebounds. Jerotic had his best game in over a month, going for 14 points, and three rebounds.
Jasmin finished his college career with 31 points, and seven boards, while Jakob Hester scored 14 points with six rebounds.
ERAU advances to the SSC Tournament semifinals and will host third-seeded Barry on Thursday, March 3. Tip is set for 7 p.m. in the ICI Center. The Bucs dispatched sixth-seeded Rollins 79-64 in Miami Shores to advance to the second round.
No. 1 Nova Southeastern handled Florida Tech, 89-77 in the 1vs8 matchup, while fourth-seeded Florida Southern won a thriller over Tampa, 80-78. The Sharks will host the Mocs on Thursday in Fort Lauderdale.
The 2021-22 Embry-Riddle Men's Basketball season is presented by Daytona Kia.
