DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The Embry-Riddle men's basketball team scored 48 points in the first half en route to an 84-62 victory over Daemen, Friday at Embry-Riddle's ICI Center. The Eagles avenged last season's four-point (78-74) loss to the Wildcats to improve their 2010-11 record to 2-0 and advance to the championship game of the Daytona Mitsubishi Shootout for the 11th straight year.

Three straight free throws, an emphatic block by David Butler and solid defense helped the Eagles sprint out to a 7-0 lead to start the contest. But as quickly as the Eagles were able to build the seven-point margin, the Wildcats went on a mini run of their own scoring five unanswered to cut the ERAU lead to two (9-7). With the surge of the athletic Daemen team, the game promised to be as close and competitive as it was a year ago, however that was not the case on Friday.

After the Wildcats narrowed the gap, ERAU head coach, Steve Ridder called a time out to give his troops a chance to regroup. The break had the desired effect, as Danny Krazit grabbed a steal and got the quick outlet to Ray Graham for an easy lay-up. On the Wildcats' next possession, Blake Touchard forced Casey Sheehan to cough up the basketball and raced toward the basket. The Embry-Riddle junior couldn't convert on the lay-up but Graham was on hand for a tip-dunk that electrified the crowd and sparked an 11-4 run that gave ERAU a 25-11 lead with 11:59 left in the first half.

The momentum swung firmly in the Eagles' favor from that point forward and they led by as many as 24 points before heading into the locker room with a 48-25 halftime lead.

Coming out of the break, the Eagles continued to pour on the offense at the start of the second frame and with 7:20 left on the clock they were leading by 36 points (76-40). Although the team shot just 34.6 percent from the field in the second frame, as opposed to 54.8 percent in the first, the Blue and Gold made up the shortfall with a 60 percent clip from beyond the arc and 15-of-19 from the charity stripe.

For the second straight game, Butler led all players with 24 points, while Graham added 15 points and six rebounds. Casey Sheehan (12 points) finished as the top scorer for the Wildcats who drop to 2-1 on the year.

The Eagles will take on Faulkner in the Daytona Mitsubishi Shootout title game at 7 p.m. on Saturday. Daemen will face Central Methodist in the consolation game at 5 p.m.