DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The Embry-Riddle men's basketball team was given all it could handle by the University of Fort Lauderdale on a Wednesday matinee in the ICI Center, but the Eagles in Blue & Gold downed the Eagles in Maroon & Gold in an overtime thriller, 103-102. 
 
ERAU (5-2, 2-0 SSC) had to come back from down as much as 14 points early in the first and as much as 16 in the second half to rally past UFTL (2-3, 0-0 NCCAA). Dru Nickson scored 29 second-half points and added two more in the overtime session to get to his team-high 31 points on the day. He scored ERAU's last seven points in the second half to force the overtime. Nickson also added six assists and five rebounds for another well-rounded outing.
 
Off the bench, Jared Berry and Jack Klinger had a pair of excellent showings; Berry set a new personal scoring mark with 18 points, also collecting 10 rebounds for the game's only double-double, the first of his career. Down low, Klinger was a force for the Eagles, especially late in both halves. He finished with a season-best six points on 3-of-4 shooting, adding seven boards and two dimes to the ledger. 
 
ERAU found itself down early in the first, with the Eagles of UFTL honing in on and running away with the advantage early. Michael McCalister, who was two rebounds shy of a double-double himself with 10 points and eight boards, and Yassin Hussein (8 points, 7 rebounds) tied things up at 4-4 early. But UFTL kept pressing on offense, shooting 55-percent from the floor and 63-percent from deep in the opening frame. But the visiting Eagles got out to as much as a 14-point lead on the home Eagles by the 6:24 mark of the first. Jerry Bracey II (15 points, 2 assists, 2 rebounds), Hussein and McCalister all teamed up to bring the lead closer as the minutes dripped away, but UFTL ended up entering the break with a 48-39 advantage. 
 
Into the second half, UFTL maintained their double-digit lead until about midway through, even extending things by 16 (70-54) at the 12:43 mark. But that's when Nickson and Co. took off. The senior ERAU guard refused to back down, leading ERAU up and down the court. Some hard-nosed playing from Klinger (offensive rebound and putback to draw a foul), Berry (constantly flying around the rim on the defensive side to scoop rebounds) along with benchmates Clarens Pierre (2 points, 7 rebounds), Dawson Barr (11 points, 3 assists) and Logan Lewis (4 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists) made the difference in slowly erasing the deficit by about the five minute mark. 
 
As Nickson's two final freebies tied things up at 94-94 to head to overtime, ERAU held the momentum. UFTL jumped on the first bucket of the OT period, but Nickson tied things again at 96 all with a jumper of his own. Berry then hit a massive three, followed by a pair of Lewis connections at the line to put ERAU up for the first time all afternoon. UFTL knocked home two more scores to take a 102-101 lead with just 19 ticks remaning, but two Berry free throws with 11 seconds left, and some hard-nosed defense from the Blue & Gold, stuffed the visitors as ERAU walked away with their heads up and a 103-102 thriller in the victory column. 
 
After the win, Embry-Riddle will enjoy the quick Thanksgiving break, before hosting Puerto-Rico Mayaguez on Saturday at 2 p.m.