OPA LOCKA, Fla. ? Despite a career night by freshman Ray Graham (22 points), the Embry-Riddle men's basketball team was unable to leave South Florida with a conference tournament title as St. Thomas' Antonio Jones score 29 points to lead the Bobcats to a 70-74 win over the Eagles in the championship game of The Sun Conference tournament on Saturday.

In the three seasons before St. Thomas suspended its men's basketball program in 1999, the Eagles and the Bobcats squared off in three straight conference tournament finals with the Eagles winning all three. But on Saturday night, the Bobcats broke that losing streak to secure a berth in the NAIA Division II National Tournament.  With the loss, the Eagles end their season at 24-9, marking their fifth straight 20-win season.

The first half of play was marked by end-to-end action with eight ties and 14 lead changes, and neither team leading by more than five points. St. Thomas, behind 14 first-half points from Antonio Jones, shot 41.4 percent (12-29) from the field, including 3-of-10 from long range.

The Eagles, led by 10 points from Tyler DeBord and nine points from Ray Graham, shot 58.3 percent from the field but struggled with the long range, connecting on only one of five attempts. But they made up for the deficit with a 9-for-9 performance from the free throw line and led 38-37 at the halftime break.

Embry-Riddle extended the lead to 40-37 coming out of the locker room on a Danny Krazit lay-up, but baskets by Tracy Razz and Cesar Chavez Jacobo put the Bobcats ahead by one point with 16:30 left to play. Both teams continued to battle back and forth and while they were both able to come up with big defensive plays and convert them into points, neither squad was able to pull ahead by more than three points.

With 3:16, Graham hit a jumper that registered the 17th tie of the ballgame, 67-67. Jones hit a lay-up to put the Bobcats back up by two, but a St. Thomas foul sent Graham to the free throw line where he made one of two to make it a one-point game. The Eagles had a chance to take the lead after the Bobcats turned the ball over on their next possession, but they missed a lay-up that was rebounded by Tracy Razz who was fouled in the process. Razz made the first free throw but missed the second and Ray Graham grabbed the rebound to give the Eagles another chance to tie the game.

With 36 seconds left, Graham drove to the basket and was fouled on the play. The freshman knocked down both free throws to tie the score at 70.

Jones was fouled on the Bobcats' next inbound play and with both teams in the bonus, Jones, who was 12-for-12 from the charity stripe, hit two free throws to make the score 72-70 in favor of the home team.

With 11 ticks left on the clock, the Eagles called a timeout to set up a play. Coming out of the timeout, the Eagles got the ball to Glenn Dalcourt and his three-point attempt bounced off the rim and into the hands of Jones who was immediately fouled with 2.3 remaining. Jones closed out a perfect night at the free throw line with two made shots to give the Bobcats the win.

Jones finished the night with 29 points, four rebounds and four steals, which, together with his performances from other tournament games, earned him tournament MVP honors. Graham and DeBord (16 pts, 9 reb) were named to the All-Tournament team, along with St. Thomas' Chavez-Jacobo and Razz, and Edward Waters' Byron Shemwell.

The end of the season also marked the conclusion of the collegiate careers of DeBord, Denver Cobb and Danny Deaver. DeBord leaves as the Eagles' all-time leader in rebounds (1,006) and blocked shots (158), and both he and Cobb depart as members of the Eagles' 1,000-point club with 1,766 and 1,564, respectively.