DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The Embry-Riddle men's basketball team closed out its six-game home stand with an 83-70 victory over Edward Waters as play continued in The Sun Conference on Tuesday. The Eagles, ranked 17th in the latest NAIA national poll released on Monday, improved to 2-0 in league play and 13-3 overall, while the Tigers dropped to 7-8 on the year and 1-1 in the conference.

The Eagles sprinted out to an 11-0 lead to start the game. They were led by Blake Touchard who had a lay-up, an assist, a rebound, two free throws and a pair of three-point baskets in the first four and a half minutes of play. ERAU also played solid defense in the opening minutes, holding the Tigers scoreless until the 16:02 mark when Carlton Darling put Edward Waters on the board with a lay-up.

The lay-up  jump-started the Tigers' offense and they managed to convert on five of their next 11 attempts, but they were not able to cut into the lead as the Eagles held a commanding 23-11 advantage on the boards and shot 53.3 percent from the field, including 5-of-10 from beyond the arc, to take a 49-33 lead into the intermission.

Edward Waters got off to a better start offensively in the second half, scoring the first four points of the frame. Eric Lorenzi countered with one of his two three-pointers on the night to build the lead back up to 15 points. Over the next seven minutes, the Eagles struggled to find their rhythm, turning the ball over four times and scoring just seven points during that stretch. On the other side of the ball, Edward Waters made the most of its scoring chances and pulled to within nine on William Walter-Brown's long-range shot at the 11:32 mark.

The Tigers' success prompted EWC head coach Anthony Mosley to call a timeout to discuss strategy for the last 10 minutes, but it was the Eagles whose game plan out of the timeout proved most effective. David Butler collected a Touchard miss at the 10:52 mark and his ensuing jumper sparked a 20-8 run over the next eight minutes, with back-to-back threes by Touchard and Danny Krazit adding the exclamation point at the end of the run.

The Tigers took 41 shots to the Eagles 26 in the second and outscored the Blue and Gold 37-34 in that frame, but the first-half deficit proved to be too big for Edward Waters to overcome, resulting in the Eagles' 13-point victory.

Touchard finished with 16 points on the night to go with five rebounds, two assists and two steals. Lorenzi led all scorers with 21 points, while Ray Graham (12 points), David Butler (13 points) and Glenn Dalcourt (10 points) rounded out the Eagle scorers in double figures. Butler and Graham accounted for 15 of the Eagles' 39 rebounds with eight and seven, respectively, and Butler finished just one block shy of his season best with seven blocks in the game.

Ronnie Weston was the leading scorer for the Tigers with 17 points, which included four from long range. Charles Evans contributed 14 points and eight boards to the Tiger effort.
 
The Eagles play the first contest of a three-game road swing on Friday at 8 p.m. when they travel to Miami to take on league newcomer Johnson & Wales.