DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The Embry-Riddle men's basketball team emerged from the Christmas break with a 73-58 victory over Wartburg on the first day of play in the Land of Magic Classic on Monday. The Eagles improved their overall record to 8-3 on the year, while the Knights fell to 5-4.

Embry-Riddle showed no ill-effects from a 16-day lay-off, shooting 51.6 percent from the field and 50 percent from long range in the first half. Eric Lorenzi and David Butler paced the Eagle offense in the first frame with 12 points apiece, while Ray Graham led the way on the boards with six. Butler also made his presence known on the defensive end of the floor with three blocks and two steals in the first 20 minutes of play.

The Eagles jumped out to a 7-0 lead thanks to five points from Lorenzi and a stifling Eagle defense that held the Knights scoreless through the first four minutes of play. Wartburg went on a mini-run to close the gap to two points at 11-9 with 11:50 left to play in the first half. Embry-Riddle responded with a run of its own, rattling off 11 unanswered points to increase the lead to 14 (25-11).

Embry-Riddle maintained the double-digit lead until the 3:17 mark when Mitch Eslick sunk his second three-pointer of the evening to make it an eight-point game (31-23). With 1:37 remaining, Lorenzi drilled his second shot from beyond the arc to build the lead back to 13 points and the Eagles took an 11-point lead into the lockerroom at intermission.

Coming out of the halftime break, the Eagles wasted little time building their lead to 19 points. Blake Touchard, who struggled to find his offense in the first half, came alive in the second as he hit the first of his four second-half three-pointers to spark the run.

Although the Eagles extended the margin to as many as 21 points, Wartburg managed to close the gap to 64-53 with 5:16 left on the clock. But the Blue and Gold maintained its composure to pull out the 15-point win.

Butler ended with a game-high 20 points, eight boards, six blocks and two steals. Touchard finished with 15 points, all of which came in the second half, while Graham led the effort on the boards with 12. As a team, the Eagles were 26-55 (47.3 percent) from the field and converted on 11 of their 21 three-point attempts.

Eslick and Jordan Sathoff scored 16 and 13 points, respectively in the Wartburg effort.

The Eagles close out play in the Land of Magic Classic on Tuesday when they host Hood College (Md.) at 7:30 p.m.

The game can be heard live on WELE-1380 AM in Daytona Beach, or on the internet at http://www.news1radio.net