FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida - The Embry-Riddle men's basketball team left it all on the floor of Rick Case Arena on Tuesday night, but the No. 1, and undefeated Nova Southeastern Sharks edged the Eagles 71-68 in the NCAA II South Region championship game. The Eagles (24-10) withstood a hostile crowd of over 1,600, and held the Sharks (31-0) to their lowest point total of the season, but fell just one possession short to end their memorable 2021-22 campaign.

Romeo Crouch finished with a game-high 23 points, and had a desperation three at the buzzer from beyond half court, that would have sent the game to overtime, but it was off line, as the Sharks advanced to the Elite Eight of the 2022 NCAA II National Tournament.

Chris Murray had the best game of his season, scoring 17 points, grabbing 15 rebounds, and collecting three assists, while Elijah Jenkins scored 15 points with five boards.

The Eagles were not fazed my the environment or the Sharks pressure early on, and Crouch put the Eagles up 10-9 at the 14:59 mark with a trey. Murray followed by a layup, and then Malcolm Whitlow got one to go as ERAU went up 14-11.

A few minutes later, Jenkins connected on a three, and the Eagles had a 21-13 lead with 11 minutes on the clock.

The Eagles continued to extend the lead, pushing it to its largest of 13 when Crouch got a steal and dunk for a 28-15 cushion. However, the Sharks answered with a 14-0 run, capped by a three from Jonathan Pierre, and took a 29-28 lead at the 3:31 mark.

Just a few seconds later, Jenkins had the answer, a massive three that regained the lead for ERAU, and sparked an 8-4 run by the visitors that resulted in a 36-33 advantage at the half.

Coming out of the break, the Eagles took it to the Sharks, scoring the first four points, all by Murray, to enjoy a 40-33 lead.

Crouch made a pair of free throws at the 12:31 mark to give ERAU its largest lead of the second period, 51-42. But the hosts rallied with eight of the next 10 points, cutting their deficit to a possession at 53-50 with eight minutes to play.

Embry-Riddle held a slim cushion for the next few moments, going up six, 61-55, on a Nikola Jerotic and-one with just under seven minutes left.

Over the final five minutes, the Eagles struggled to find ways to score, but still maintaining a slight advantage, until a layup from RJ Sunahara tied the game at 63-63 with 3:53 on the clock.

Sunahara had another layup to give the Sharks their first lead since the first half, but Whitlow hit a triple on the next Eagle possession for a 66-65 Eagle advantage.

For the next several possessions, the defenses stood firm, but an and-one from Sekou Sylla with 1:19 left had NSU up 68-66. Crouch grabbed an offensive rebound and put the ball back up and in to tie the game with under a minute to go, and then got a steal and called a timeout with 34 seconds left.

Unfortunately, the Eagles couldn't get a shot off after the timeout, turning the ball over, and ERAU then committed a foul on the next Shark possession, leading to Nick Smith making the first free throw, but missing the second. Sylla came up with the biggest rebound of the game, and the ball got into Eddie Puisis' hands before he was fouled.

Puisis made one-of-two free throws, and the Eagles called timeout with 13 seconds to go.

ERAU got a great look from Crouch on an open three, but his shot was just off, and the Sharks grabbed the rebound, all but sealing the game at the free throw line with two seconds left before Crouch's desperation heave at the buzzer.

Embry-Riddle out-rebounded the Sharks 40-34, connected on nine three-pointers and dishes out 12 assists.

The Eagles end their season in the NCAA II Sweet Sixteen in the program's first-ever played national tournament (2020 national tournament was canceled due to COVID). Head Coach Steve Ridder's team reached the 20-win plateau for the 23rd time in program history, finished second in the Sunshine State Conference, and spent the majority of the season ranked in the D2SIDA and NABC national polls, including reaching its highest-ever ranking of sixth (Nov. 23).

Tuesday's game also marked the end of five senior's careers. Elijah Jenkins, Romeo Crouch, David Park, Nick Heard, and Cj Henagan represented the return to national prominence for the Embry-Riddle men's basketball program after transitioning from the NAIA to NCAA II, earning two berths to the NCAA National Tournament, including this season's Sweet 16 run.

Crouch and Jenkins etched their names in the ERAU record books, with Jenkins finishing with 1,329 career points (21st all-time) and 307 career three-pointers (3rd all-time).

For Crouch, he will leave the Eagle program as arguably the best scorer in program history, averaging 19.9 points in his career, becoming the fastest Eagle ever to score 1,000 points, and in his senior season, scoring 703 points, only the third Eagle to ever score 700-plus points in a single season.