DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. ? The Embry-Riddle men's basketball team took home its fourth straight Daytona Mitsubishi title with a 85-71 win over NAIA Division I William Carey (3-1), Saturday at Embry-Riddle's ICI Center. The Eagles, now 5-2 on the year, were led by tournament MVP Tyler DeBord and Eric Lorenzi who tallied 17 points apiece.

The Eagles got off to a slow start, turning the ball over four times in their first six possessions, allowing the Crusaders to score 14 points off Eagle miscues in the first frame. But the Eagles regrouped and got their offense going against a scrappy William Carey defense.

The first half saw seven ties and nine lead changes as both teams shot the ball well from the field with William Carey scoring at a 69 percent clip and the Eagles shooting 50 percent. The difference in scoring came from the free throw line where the Eagles were 13 of 17 as opposed to the Crusaders going 0-2, and from beyond the arc where the Eagles converted on five of 10 attempts, while WCU managed only three of nine three-point tries.

A Julius Banks jumper with 10:51 to go in the half sparked a 7-0 Crusader run, but the Eagles, led by a pair of long-range shots from Danny Deaver, erased the deficit and they outscored the Crusaders 9-2 over the last 2:07 to take 50-43 lead into half time break.

In contrast to their start in the first half, the Eagles opened the second period by scoring on each of their first four trips down the floor to extend to the lead to 12 points.  After a layup by Ray Graham made the score 69-59 in favor of the Blue and Gold midway through the second half, neither team was able to score over the next three minutes. All-tournament selection Anthony Wilcher ended the scoring drought with a three-pointer to pull the Crusaders to within seven with 8:06 left on the clock.

Seven points is as close as William Carey would get as the Eagle offense shot 52.5  percent from the field, while the defense held the Crusaders to just 28 second-half points to claim the win.

Lorenzi was also named to the all-tournament team along with Denver Cobb who finished with 16 points and seven rebounds on the night. Joining the Embry-Riddle trio and Wilcher on the all-tournament roster were Graceland's Mike Johnson and Christian Lewis from Columbia (Mo.).

The Eagles' next game will be at 7 p.m. on Tuesday when they travel to St. Augustine to take on former conference rival Flagler.