ST. AUGUSTINE –
Damerit Brown scored 20 of his career-high 30 points as Flagler College held off Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University 88-85 in overtime in a non-conference men's basketball game at Flagler Gymnasium.
Flagler won its third game in a row to improve to 3-1. The Saints also snapped a seven-game losing to streak to their former NAIA rival. The last time these two teams met was Dec. 2, 2009 at Daytona Beach, Florida. Embry-Riddle had its two-game winning streak snapped and dropped to 4-2.
"We don't win that game without our fans," said head coach
Chad Warner. "We have a lot of work to do, but we will enjoy this tonight."
Flagler held a 73-70 lead with four seconds left to go in regulation. On an in-bounds pass after a timeout,
Vaughn McCall caught the ball and was pinned against the sideline where the ball was poked out by Tylin Lockett-Fuller who gathered the loose ball and drained a three-pointer at the buzzer to force overtime.
It was Lockett-Fuller in the extra session who gave the Eagles a 79-77 lead with 2:37 to go.
However, Brown hit a jumper and McCall followed with another bucket to give Flagler an 81-79 lead with 1:26 left.
Later, with 19 seconds left
Gloire Biongo hit a pair of free throws to give the Saints an 86-83 lead. He did the same thing seven seconds later to extend the Flagler lead to 88-83.
CJ Henagen's rebound and put back got the Eagles to within three, 88-85, with 1.8 seconds left.
After a Flagler timeout, the Saints' in-bounds baseball pass was broken up by an Embry-Riddle player, but one of the referees had blown a whistle stopping the play. The Eagles had one more chance, but could not get off a shot.
Brown finished 10-of-14 from the field, including 8-of-11 from three-point range. McCall added a season-high 26 points with the help of 9-of-11 shooting from the free throw line.
DeMari Davis chipped in with eight points and seven rebounds.
The Saints shot 66.7 percent (4-6) from the field in overtime.
Alston Jones led Embry-Riddle with 24 points. Luka Majstorovic added 20 points and eight rebounds. Cole Hunter came off the bench to tack on 13 points. Chris Murray grabbed 12 rebounds and added nine points. Henagan corralled 12 rebounds.
Embry-Riddle out-rebounded Flagler 52-33 and had 22 offensive rebounds that led to 26 second chance points.
The Saints will break for the Thanksgiving holiday and return on Nov. 27 at Florida Tech in Melbourne at 7 p.m.
NOTE: Prior to the game, the two coaches who matched up the most in the rivalry, Bo Clark (Flagler) and Steve Ridder (Embry-Riddle), were honored. Both teams competed in the Florida Sun Conference (NAIA Division II) from the late 1980s until Flagler left in 2006.
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