OPA LOCKA, Fla. – Senior
Eric Lorenzi tallied a season-high 31 points to lead the sixth-ranked Embry-Riddle men's basketball team to a 75-59 win over Florida Memorial as play continued in The Sun Conference on Thursday evening. The win lifts the Eagles' record to 11-2 in the league and 22-5 overall, while the Lions fall to 8-19 and 6-7 in conference play.
Lorenzi's 31 points marked the highest individual scoring performance of an Embry-Riddle player this season. He was 12-of-18 from the field, including a two three-pointers, and was a perfect 5-for-5 from the charity stripe.
David Butler (13 points) and
Ray Graham also finished in double figures with Butler leading all players in rebounds (9) and blocked shots (5).
It took a little while for both teams to get their respective offenses going as each team had a turnover and a missed shot in its first two possessions. A pair of
Ray Graham free throws got the scoring started, but Roderick Davis came right back with one of the Lions' six first-half three-pointers to give FMU the lead.
Lay-ups by Graham and
Eric Lorenzi and a three-pointer by
Blake Touchard helped the Eagles to a eight point lead (16-8) at the 13:46 and ERAU maintained a six-point cushion on average over the next five minutes. At the 8:33 mark, Matthew Rolle got three points the old-fashioned way to spark a 7-2 Lion run over the next four minutes to pull the home team to within two. The Eagles built the lead back up to six points, but a determined Lion offense, led by another Rolle lay-up and back-to-back threes, reclaimed the lead for the home team and gave Florida Memorial a 38-37 advantage heading into the intermission.
Defense was the story of the second half for Embry-Riddle. The Eagles held FMU to just seven maded shots in the second and neutralized the long-range threat, as the Lions were 0-for-9 from beyond the arc after shooting 6-for-13 from long range in the first. Not only did the Eagles force Florida Memorial to take low-percentage shots, they were on hand to grab the rebounds, outdoing the Lions 14-6 on the defensive boards.
Both teams engaged in a back-and-forth battle to start the second half with neither team leading by more than three points in the first seven minutes. A Lorenzi lay-up at the 12:40 mark triggered a 20-7 ERAU run and the Eagles led by as many as 20 points before walking away with the 16-point victory. The Eagles shot 68.2 (15-of-22) percent from the field, including a 60 percent (3-of-5) clip from long range, and finished the game shooting 61.2 percent.
The Eagles close out their South Florida road trip at 7 p.m. on Saturday when they take on St. Thomas.
