FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida - It was a long time in coming, but the Embry-Riddle men's basketball team finally made its NCAA National Tournament debut on Saturday, blasting sixth-seeded West Alabama, 82-60 at Nova Southeastern's Rick Case Arena. The Eagles (23-9) got their first national tournament win in seven year thanks to a stifling defensive effort against the Tigers (24-7), holding UWA to just 32% percent shooting from the floor. 

ERAU advances to the NCAA II round of 32 tomorrow, Sunday, March 13 at 5 p.m. against seventh-seeded Alabama Huntsville. The Chargers knocked off third-seeded Barry, 106-99.

Romeo Crouch led all scorers with 21 points on the day, despite playing a career-low 26 minutes due to foul trouble. Fellow senior Elijah Jenkins scored 16 points, including a career-best 11-for-12 effort from the free throw line, and Malcolm Whitlow added 12 points for the Blue and Gold.

The Eagles got off to a dream start on Saturday, making six of their first seven shots, taking a 15-4 lead on a a Crouch driving layup with 15:10 to go.

ERAU's defense in the first 10 minutes of the game was truly stifling, as the Tigers found themselves down 30-7 midway through the opening half. The Eagles were hitting 77% of their shots at one point in the first, going up 32-10 on another Crouch layup.

The Tigers finally found some success over the last 10 minutes of the period, trimming what was once a 23-point ERAU lead down to 13 at the break, 45-32.

The start of the second half was the opposite of the first, with the Tigers coming out of the locker room hot, starting the period on an 12-2 run, capped by a Calvin Finch dunk with 15:22 on the clock.

With their lead all but disappeared, the Eagles turned to Crouch, and the D2CCA First Team All-Region selection came up big, just as he has all year, driving to the hoop, making a tough shot and getting the foul call, converting the free throw to stop the bleeding and push ERAU's lead back to six.

After a made three by the Tigers, the Eagles again went to the Titusville native. Crouch was fouled on his shot attempt, and the UWA player was then whistled for a technical foul. Crouch sunk four straight free throws to grow the Eagle lead to 54-47 with just over 14 minutes left.

After a defensive stop, the Eagles got back-to-back buckets from Jon Alessandro and Whitlow, regaining a double-digit advantage at 58-47.

UWA responded with a quick 5-0 run, but Whitlow and Alessandro again answered the call, hitting a jumper and layup, respectively before Crouch made it a dozen-point lead with a jumper in the paint on the following ERAU possession.

The Tigers were able to get the deficit down to 66-58 on a pair of free throws at the 5:54 mark, but that was as close as they got as the Eagles scored the next 13 points, including a three-pointer from Cj Henagan with three minutes to go, making it 79-58 in favor of the third-seeded Eagles.

UWA only made one field goal over the final eight minutes as the Eagles took the 82-60 win.

Embry-Riddle owned the boards, out-rebounding UWA 40-28, with Jenkins leading the way with eight rebounds on the day. Whitlow added five boards and four assists to his 12 points, and Chris Murray finished with seven points and five rebounds. Alessandro had nine points and six boards off the bench, and both Nikola Jerotic and Henagan had six points for the Eagles.

The Eagles' 22-point win was the largest postseason victory since the 2015 NAIA final four run.