DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Senior David Butler capped off an impressive shooting night with 23 points to lead the fourth-ranked Embry-Riddle men's basketball team to a 71-56 win over Berry (Ga.) in the Eagles' final game of the Land of Magic Classic on Wednesday. Butler was 9-of-11 from the field and led all players in points and rebounds (9) as the Eagles improved their overall record to 11-1 on the year.

Butler was the story for the Eagles in the first half. The senior was near perfect in the first frame, connecting on all seven of his shot attempts from the field, including one from beyond the arc, and converting on one of two free throw attempts. Butler also got the job done on the other end of the court, blocking three Berry attempts and grabbing six rebounds, four of which were on the defensive glass.

Berry jumped out to an early lead with a three-point basket by Cass LeBlanc. Blake Touchard answered immediately with a trey of his own and that set the tone for the end-to-end action that followed over the next five minutes. After a series of misses on both ends of the floor, Butler knocked down a mid-range jumper off a feed from Brandon Caputo and that helped ERAU to move ahead by three (15-12) with 13:32 left in the half. The Eagles, who shot 50 percent from the field in the first 20 minutes, forced eight Viking turnovers and held the visitors to just 36.4 percent shooting to steadily build the lead to 10 points and went into the intermission ahead 39-30.

The Vikings struggled to get anything going to start the second period as the Eagles contested every possession and converted on the other end to increase the margin to 14 points (44-30), prompting Berry Head Coach Jeff Haarlow to call a timeout. The stoppage in play did nothing to slow the Eagles' momentum as they outscored the Vikings 14-6 over the next six and a half minutes to widen the gap to 20 points (58-38) with 11:40 remaining.

The Vikings tried to get back into the game with the outside shot, but after two straight misses, they tried and new strategy and got the ball to Kendall Gadie who was able to knock down the mid-range jumper to make it an 18-point game. On the Eagles' next possession, Josh Seidel took a pass from Blake Touchard and nailed his only three-pointer of the night to spark a 9-2 run to balloon the ERAU advantage to 25 points (65-42). Berry was able to get a three-pointer from Stefan Woods in the late stages of the game, but it wasn't enough to catch the Blue and Gold who shot 45.8 percent from the field in the second half to claim the 15-point victory.

Jarod Leonard came off the bench to contribute 12 points as all but two of the 11 Eagle players to take the floor made their way into the scoring column. Brett Rawlings gave the Eagles another presence on the boards as he finished with eight rebounds, while Caputo and Touchard closed out the night with five and four assists, respectively.

Berry had three players score in double figures, including Woods (13), David Holloman (12) and Tim Miles (10). The Vikings dropped to 6-4 with the loss.

The Eagles will host William Carey (Miss.), the College of Wooster (Ohio) and Baruch (N.Y.) at the Bahama House/Best Western Aku Tiki Shootout, Jan. 1-2. ERAU will face Baruch at 7 p.m. on Saturday and William Carey at 4 p.m. on Sunday.