DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. ? St. Thomas junior Antonio Jones scored a game-high 31 points to lead the St. Thomas men's basketball team to an 81-76 win over No. 12 Embry-Riddle, Friday at the ICI Center. The Bobcats improved to 13-8 overall and 5-3 in the league, while the Eagles fall to 19-5 on the year and 5-3 in The Sun Conference.

The Eagles sprinted out to 14-point lead hitting eight of their first 11 shot attempts, four of which were three-pointers. ERAU maintained at least a seven-point cushion for the majority of the first half and went into the locker room with a nine-point lead at the intermission.

The Eagles shot the ball well in the first half going 63 percent from the field and 66.7 percent from beyond the arc. But their fortunes changed drastically in the second period of play as they managed only five of 23 attempts from the field, with 20 of their 31 second-half points coming from the free throw line.

With 17:26 remaining in the game, the Eagles led by 11, but the Bobcats went on an 18-8 run over the next seven minutes to pull within one at 57-56 and tied the game at 59-59 with 6:53 left to play.

ERAU managed to pull ahead by four, but the Bobcats came back to tie the game once again at 69-69 on a Jones lay-up. St. Thomas got its first lead of the game courtesy of a pair of free throws by Bryce Johnson with 1:54 left on the clock.

The Bobcats increased their lead to five at the 1:18 mark, but the Eagles battled back to knot the score at 74 on two free throws by Tyler DeBord with 51 seconds left to play. On the Bobcats next trip down the court, Ian Gregory made his first free throw but missed the second, which was rebounded by Ray Graham. The Eagles had a chance to reclaim the lead but were unable to convert on either of their next two shot attempts.

With eight seconds left and the Eagles trailing by two, Denver Cobb hit a pair of free throws to pull the Blue and Gold within one. They elected to foul Antonio Jones with six seconds left and after Jones sunk both free throws, the Eagles, now down by three, called timeout to devise a play. But coming out of the timeout, there was some confusion on the floor, resulting in the Eagles being charged with a technical foul for having too many men on the court. Jones, who was 7-of-8 from the charity stripe, returned to the line and hit two more free throws to seal the win.

Cobb paced the Eagle offense with 23 points, while Tyler DeBord finished the night with 17 points and eight boards.

The Eagles play the first of a two-game road trip at 7 p.m. on Wednesday when they travel to Savannah, Ga. to take on the Savannah College of Art and Design.