DAYTONA BEACH, Florida - It's been a week of revenge for the Embry-Riddle men's basketball team as the Eagles easily handled seventh-seeded Rollins on Thursday night in the ICI Center, 80-63 in the Sunshine State Conference Tournament semifinals, setting up a date with No. 1 and undefeated Nova Southeastern for the SSC crown on Sunday in Ft. Lauderdale. The Eagles improved to 19-10 overall, taking down the Tars (15-15) just eight days after suffering a Senior Night defeat at the hands of Rollins in the final regular season game in the ICI Center. Just like ERAU's win over Florida Southern on Tuesday, the Blue and Gold sprinted out to a large first half lead, and Rollins could get no closer than nine in the second half as the Eagles won the 400th game in program history in the ICI Center, improving to 28-2 in the postseason in the building.
Malcolm Whitlow,
Chris Murray, and
Dru Nickson led the way for Embry-Riddle, but it was truly a collective effort as Head Coach
Steve Ridder got contributions from everyone that saw playing time on Thursday night in front of a packed house. Whitlow and Murray both went for 20-plus points, while Murray registered his eighth double-double of the season, and Nickson finished with 12 points, six rebounds and six assists.
The Eagles scored the game's first six points, and held Rollins at arm's length for the first few minutes. In fact, the game didn't feature a dead ball until nearly eight minutes had gone by. ERAU led 15-8 at the first stoppage, and went up by 11 (23-12) when
Michael McCalister nailed a trey, one of seven the Eagles hit in the opening 20 minutes.
The hosts led 29-15 at the 5:44 mark and would go on to hit three consecutive three-pointers, two by
Jon Alessandro and one by Nickson, going up 20. Every time the Tars got a bucket, the Eagles answered, and ERAU got the final punctuation mark in the half when
Jared Berry, fresh off the bench, hit a fastbreak three with 30 seconds left to give the Eagles a 46-27 lead at the break.
The visitors opened the second half on a 7-0 run before Whitlow hit a three-pointer to stop the bleeding, but the Tars were able to whittle ERAU's advantage down to 53-44 on a John Latimer three with 12:30 on the clock. Following a media timeout, the Eagles relied on Murray and Whitlow in the paint as the duo scored eight straight for the Blue and Gold to stem the Rollins run and push the lead back to 15 at 61-46.
The Tars had one final run in them, taking the 15-point lead down to 10 (67-57) when Kyle Marion made a pair of free throws, but once again it was Murray with the response, bullying his way inside and converting a layup to put ERAU back up 12 and the Tars got no closer the rest of the night.
The Eagles dominated the glass, grabbing 45 rebounds to Rollins' 25, and attempting 12 more shots than the visitors. ERAU shot 48% overall, hit nine treys and went 7-for-11 at the line. Whitlow had 21 points, five rebounds and four assists, Murray finished with 20 points, 10 boards, thee assists, and three rejections. Alessandro was the other Eagle in double-digits with 10 points, five rebounds, and three helpers. The Eagles racked up 24 assists and turned the ball over just six times on the night.
Embry-Riddle and Nova Southeastern will meet for the third time this season for the right to claim an automatic bid to the NCAA II South Regional Tournament, March 10-14. Tip on Sunday is set for 1 p.m.
The 2022-23 Embry-Riddle Men's Basketball season is presented by Daytona Kia.
