DAYTONA BEACH, Florida - The Embry-Riddle men's basketball team suffered a stinging defeat on Wednesday evening in the ICI Center, dropping a game they led by 14 with seven minutes left to Rollins, 78-74. The Eagles (17-9, 10-9 SSC) scored just six points over the final seven minutes, and none over the final three, as the Tars (14-13, 10-9 SSC) ended the game on a 24-6 run, including scoring the final 11 points of the contest to shock the Eagles on Senior Night.
Rollins shot 52% for the game, including a 61% clip in the second half, while dominating in the paint to the tune of a 44-26 advantage.
Chris Murray nearly registered a triple-double, scoring 21 points, grabbing 10 rebounds and dishing out seven assists in the loss.
The game, which started at 8:20 p.m., nearly an hour later than originally scheduled, got off to a slow start, but it was the hosts that had the better of it early, going up 17-7 on a Murray jumper off a
Dru Nickson assist. The lead held steady for the Blue and Gold for most of the first half until around the five minute mark when the Tars made their move. The visitors took a 29-26 lead with just under two minutes remaining in the period, but an and-one from Murray tied the game and
Malcolm Whitlow connected on a triple right before the halftime buzzer to give the Eagles a 34-32 advantage at the break.
The second half began back-and-forth, with the home team pushing out to a narrow lead at the first media timeout of the second period, 46-42. Midway through the second, the Eagles went on an 8-0 run, extending their lead from four to a dozen at 64-52 on a Nickson triple.
Two Murray free throws at the 6:53 mark made it 68-54 in favor of the Eagles, but after that it was all Tars starting with a Hutton Yenor jumper.
Michael McCalister had a jumper to keep the Eagles up 12 with six to play, but then it was five straight for the Tars before Murray's layup at the 4:56 mark stopped the run.
Nikola Jerotic's jumper in the lane with three minutes to play was the final Eagle points of the night as ERAU went 0-for-5 over the final moments to come up empty.
Whitlow finished with 16 points, while
Wesley Simpson had 10 points and eight rebounds and Nickson had eight points, six rebounds, and 10 assists.
The Eagles travel to No. 1 Nova Southeastern on Saturday for a 4 p.m. tip in Fort Lauderdale.
The 2022-23 Embry-Riddle Men's Basketball season is presented by Daytona Kia.
