DAYTONA BEACH, Florida - The Embry-Riddle men's basketball team got a big offensive night from junior
Malcolm Whitlow, while ratcheting up the defense against Palm Beach Atlantic on Wednesday in a 73-50 win on Steve & Vicky Ridder Court. The Eagles (16-7, 9-7 SSC) held PBA (11-11, 7-9 SSC) to just 31% shooting from the floor, and a miniscule 20% clip in the second half. Whitlow dropped a season-high 27 points, 22 of which came in the opening 20 minutes.
The Blue and Gold extracted a measure of revenge versus the Sailfish after dropping the teams' first matchup down in West Palm Beach earlier this year, and the revenge started early, with
Nikola Jerotic, who drew his first start of the season, connecting on a hook shot at the 18:16 mark, followed by a
Chris Murray jumper that pushed the Eagles in front 6-5.
It was back-and-forth for the first several minutes of the game, but with the score tied at 12-12 with 13 minutes left in the half, Whitlow began a 9-0 Eagle run with one of his three three-pointers in the game. The run was capped by a Murray put-back dunk that made it 21-12, and the Eagles never looked back, pushing the advantage to 14 when Whitlow connected on another trey at the seven-minute mark.
The visitors made a brief push late in the period to get the deficit down to four at 37-33, but Whitlow made a pair of free throws and Jerotic got a jumper to go right before the end of the half for the Blue and Gold to take a 41-33 lead into the break.
Whitlow had 22 points on 9-for-12 shooting in the first half, and ERAU shor the ball well at 53% in the first 20 minutes.
Embry-Riddle got things going early in the second, starting the half on an 8-2 run to extend the cushion to 49-35 on a Jerotic jumper. PBA answered with a mini-run of its own to get the Eagle advantage down to 49-41, but a couple free throws from Murray and then five straight points from
Dru Nickson put ERAU back up by 15 with 13 minutes to play, and from then out it was the ERAU defense that took over.
Palm Beach Atlantic made just six field goals in the second half, going 0-for-11 from deep and just 5-for-10 at the charity stripe. The Eagles meanwhile, ended the game shooting 48% from the floor, connecting on five three-pointers and going 8-for-12 at the line.
Whitlow grabbed seven rebounds to add to his 27 points, while Murray posted his fourth double-double of the year with 14 points, 10 rebounds, three assists, and two blocks. Jerotic scored nine points with four boards and three helpers, and Nickson finished with seven points and five rebounds. ERAU out-rebounded PBA 44-36.
The Eagles take Saturday off before hosting Florida Tech on Wednesday, Feb. 15 at 7:30 p.m.
The 2022-23 Embry-Riddle Men's Basketball season is presented by Daytona Kia.
