DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – On the heels of a dominant first half, the Embry-Riddle men's basketball team secured its second straight win at home, besting the Rollins Tars, 91-74, on Saturday night in the ICI Center. The Eagles move to 11-6 on the year and are now above .500 in conference play at 5-4.
 
The Eagles used 51 points and another display of three-point prowess in the opening frame to keep Rollins at bay for the entire night. Coming off a career night on Wednesday, Michael McCalister once again paced the Eagles, this time with 22 points on 6-of-12 from behind the arc. Also in double-digit scoring for the Blue & Gold were Malcolm Whitlow with (13 points, three assists and three rebounds), Jerry Bracey II (11 points, eight rebounds) and Cameron Shockley-Okeke (10 points, eight rebounds, four assists).
 
With the help of their big men, Rollins bested ERAU in points in the paint, but the Eagles, one game after sinking 20 threes, won the battle from deep, doubling the Tars' nine threes with 18. The Eagles also eclipsed RC with a stellar 26 second-chance points, a theme for the night.
 
Rollins got off to a quick start, up 5-2 just under three minutes into the game, but a quick jumper from Dru Nickson (seven points, seven rebounds and a team-best five assists) got ERAU rolling. After a Danny Sully free throw, Whitlow and McCalister went back-to-back with long threes to go up 11-7 at the 15-minute mark. In fact, that spurt led to six consecutive three-point shots, also featuring Milan Skoric (nine points, two rebounds, two assists) and Jon Alessandro (eight points). 
 
Skoric's trey at 5:55 put the home team up a near-insurmountable 40-22. Not long after, Jack Klinger entered the game on Rollins' end of the court, which paid dividends for the Eagles. Klinger etched his name in the scorebook with an offensive rebound and immediate putback, followed up by a monster dunk fed to him by Shockley-Okeke. Shockley-Okeke fired home another three and two minutes later made a spectacular fadeaway jumper in traffic at the buzzer to allow the Eagles to take a 51-31 advantage into the break. 
 
 Once again McCalister started the Eagles off right with five quick points to start the second half. In fact, McCalister knocked home the Gold & Blue's first 14 of its first 18 points of the second frame, sandwiched by another Danny Sully dunk and Dru Nickson jumper. 
 
Though Rollins started connecting on their long-ranged shots, and held firm in the paint on both ends of the court, the Tars 13 turnovers in the game (to just five for the Eagles), kept ERAU in the lead large. Back-to-back threes from the Tars made it a 74-59 game with just over eight minutes to play, but the Eagles' bench outpowered the opposition. Bracey II and Klinger had a run of play to extend ERAU's lead to 88-69. Bracey was clutch on the offensive end with a few rebounds and putbacks, while Klinger rocked home another dunk, firing up the crow of 700-plus.
 
Solid defense led the Eagles the rest of the way, helping the Blue & Gold secure its first back-to-back wins since November. Up next for the Eagles is a trip west to St. Petersburg to take on Eckerd at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday.
 
 
 
 
The 2023-24 Embry-Riddle men's basketball season is presented by Daytona Kia.