WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – The Palm Beach Atlantic men's basketball team extended their winning streaking in heart-stopping fashion against Embry-Riddle on Wednesday night.
 
With 11 seconds remaining in the game, the visiting Eagles hit a 3-pointer to take an 86-85 lead. The Sailfish advanced the ball to half court and called a timeout with six seconds remaining. That was two seconds more than Darhius Nunn needed to make magic happen. The 5' 9" senior guard inbounded the ball and got it right back with momentum going towards the basket. He went up for a layup against the 6'10" Luka Majstorovic, who averages over three blocks a game. Nunn's floater kissed off the backboard and went in to give PBA an 87-86 lead with two seconds left. ERAU (14-8, 6-8 SSC) heaved a contested half-court shot, but it was no good. The Sailfish held on to win, 87-86.
 
PBA (15-6, 8-5 SSC) was led with a team-high 20 points from Malek Barber who also scored his 1,000th career point in the second half. He also added four rebounds, three steals and two assists. Justin Nichelson was a large contributor off the bench with 16 points. Dan Largey was right behind him with 15 points with three 3-pointers. Jules Jasmin tallied 16 points and four rebounds while Nunn totaled 12 points and six assists. Only six Sailfish scored in the contest, but all six accounted for double-digits.
 
The first half was tightly contested until the final few minutes. That was the best half for both Barber and Nichelson. Barber had 15 of his points in the first period, while Nichelson scored 13 of his 16 points in the same half. PBA lit it up from 3-point land, hitting 8-of-14 shots from behind the arc. The Sailfish ended the half on a 17-4 run in the final four minutes to take a 49-36 lead into halftime.
 
Slowly, but surely the Eagles worked their way back into the ballgame. ERAU continued its barrage of threes which cut into the Sailfish lead. With 12 minutes left in the game, ERAU went on a 7-0 run to make it a one-point game.
 
Each team traded leads down the stretch, as the game contained 10 lead changes, including six in the last seven minutes of play. Nunn scored PBA's last nine points in the game. With a minute remaining, an Eagle 3-pointer tied the game at 83. On the following Sailfish possession, Nunn was fouled and knocked down two free throws to give PBA an 85-83 advantage, which led to the following ERAU 3-pointer and the game-winning bucket by Nunn.
 
PBA benefitted from ERAU not converting at the free-throw line. The Eagles went 7-for-15 from the charity stripe in the game. Despite the Eagles holding the advantage on second-chance points, the Sailfish outscored the visitors in points off turnovers and in points in the paint.
 
The Sailfish travel to Tampa on Saturday as they look to gain ground in the SSC standings. The tip-off in Tampa, Fla. takes place at 4:00 p.m.