ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. – Thursday night's in-state rivalry bout between Embry-Riddle men's basketball and Flagler College was nothing short of a grueling heavyweight fight. The Eagles (1-2) continued their road stand with a matchup that has dated back to ERAU's inception in 1988, taking on the Saints (3-1) in St. Augustine, Fla.
Embry-Riddle went blow-for-blow for 40 minutes against Flagler in a rowdy Flagler Gymnasium, but a late surge from the hosts proved to be the difference in an 81-77 setback. Led by
Jared Berry's career-high 26 points, the Eagles were unable to finish off Flagler down the stretch.
RECORDS
Embry-Riddle: 1-2, (0-0 SSC)
Flagler: 3-1, (0-0 PBC)
GAME NOTES
- Embry-Riddle and Flagler have met over 50 times since 1988.
- The Eagles hold a 34-20 advantage in the all-time series.
- ERAU has won seven of the last 10 matchups; Thursday marked the first loss to Flagler since the 2021-22 season.
KEY PERFORMERS
Embry-Riddle
Flagler
- Player 1: Tariq Daughton - 21 pts, 4 reb
- Player2: Mason Manning - 19 pts
- Player 3: Tymoteusz Pszczola - 13 pts, 7 reb
HOW IT HAPPENED
First Half
- The opening six minutes featured true back-and-forth play with the score tied 12-12.
- Dawson Barr ignited the scoring early for ERAU, scoring 10 points as the Eagles opened 4-for-8 from the field and 3-of-3 from the foul line.
- Flagler responded with a 15-4 run over the next five minutes while ERAU endured a 2-for-11 shooting spell.
- The Eagles clawed back into the game with an 18-6 surge to reclaim a 35-33 advantage, sparked by 12 points from Berry.
- ERAU went 7-for-10 from the field in the stretch, capping off a huge run with an and-one effort from Berry.
- Flagler briefly reclaimed the lead with an 8-3 run of its own to lead by four.
- A layup from Evan Montanari followed by a trey from Chalier Torres helped to reclaim a two-point lead in the dying moments of the half.
- The Saints took advantage of a late foul to level the game at 43-43, heading into the second half.
- Berry tallied 15 points followed by 12 from Barr to lead the Eagles into the break.
- ERAU shot 16-of-39 from the field and 5-of-14 from the three-point line.
Second Half
- Nearly two minutes passed before ERAU scored its first points of the half, but a Barr layup broke the stalemate.
- Another and-one from Berry moved the advantage to 48-45 for Embry-Riddle.
- Logan Lewis, Barr, and Berry combined for six points in a following effort that gave ERAU its biggest lead of the night with a 54-49 edge.
- Flagler responded with a 5-0 surge over the next 90 seconds to equalize the game once again.
- The Saints took a big chunk of the clock to build up a double-digit advantage late in the half, charging forward with a 20-9 stretch of scoring that ended with a 74-63 lead.
- ERAU fought back into the game late with a 14-7 run in response, led by Montanari's pair of treys and Torres' five points but ran out of clock as a result.
- Berry added 11 more in the half followed by six points each produced by Jack Klinger and Montanari.
INSIDE THE STATS
- Embry-Riddle led for just under nine minutes of the game.
- Berry has produced back-to-back games of 20 or more points and has recorded four or more assists in all three games thus far.
- In tonight's game, Berry scored 11 of ERAU's final 20 points and finished the night on 8-for-20 shooting.
- Klinger nearly reached his career-best block performance with three.
UP NEXT
Embry-Riddle will host Saint Leo on Saturday at 4 p.m. ET for the Fansgiving home opener at the ICI Center in Daytona Beach, Fla.
