DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Fresh off a grueling overtime game last time out, the Embry-Riddle men's basketball team didn't miss a step on Wednesday, clipping the Palm Beach Atlantic Sailfish, 76-69, in the ICI Center. The Eagles and Sailfish both move to 9-5 (3-3 SSC) on the year following the contest. 
 
Though the regular starters for ERAU pack a powerful punch, it was the Eagles' bench that lifted the Blue & Gold to the conference win, registering 30 points between Milan Skoric's 11, Jack Klinger's nine points, Jon Alessandro's eight and Jerry Bracey II's two points. Both Malcolm Whitlow and Cameron Shockley-Okeke, the Eagles' usual scoring suspects, each finished with 12 points, while Dru Nickson added eight points, and Danny Sully and Michael McCalister finished with seven apiece. 
 
Wednesday's contest, which was in front of a raucous 700-plus environment with students back on campus, got off to an auspicious start, with both teams suffering through a nearly three-minute scoring drought to begin the night. PBA then went up as much as 5-0, before Whitlow started the scoring for the Eagles with an and-one after a layup at 14:49, to make it 5-3.
 
Palm Beach Atlantic then moved its lead to 15-5 soon after that with a couple of three-point shots, but a pair of Nickson layups and two free throws from Bracey II pulled the Eagles within five, 15-10, with just 9:58 remaining in the first. 
 
The Sailfish would once again go up by nine, 19-10, with 8:51 left, but Klinger and Skoric, seeing their first action of the night combined for 14 points for ERAU to allow the Eagles to take their first lead of the night, 23-21 at 5:24. Skoric rained from behind the arc during the run, while Klinger dominated in the paint.
 
The two sides would battle until the end of the half, but a Sully free throw at 0:44 and a three-pointer from Shockley-Okeke with under five seconds left would put ERAU up 37-26 at half, stunning the Sailfish by the break.
 
Shockley-Okeke got the Blue & Gold started on the right foot in the second, registering two quick blocks and a layup, before McCalister made it an 11-point game once again, 43-32, with a nifty layup at 17:36. 
 
From there, Embry-Riddle's lead hung around 10 points before Alessandro connected on a jumper to push ERAU's lead to its largest of the day, 62-47, with under seven minutes to play. But PBA would chip away at the lead little by little until it was down to just five, 67-62, with under two minutes left. Shockley-Okeke, however, was there to extend the advantage with a quick layup from Alessandro and two more free throws to make it 71-66 with under 45 seconds remaining. 
 
With the Sailfish fouling to try to extend the game, Shockley-Okeke and Nickson put things away with shots from the charity stripe to officially end any comeback attempt from PBA, eventually taking a 76-69 victory at home.
 
Next up for the Eagles is a road trip to Barry on Saturday at 4 p.m.
 
 
The 2023-24 Embry-Riddle men's basketball season is presented by Daytona Kia.