DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - The eighth-ranked Embry-Riddle men's basketball team (24-5, 13-2) captured the program's eighth regular season Sun Conference title with an 81-67 defeat of No. 25 Warner, Wednesday at the ICI Center. The win also guarantees the Eagles the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament, which begins Feb. 23. The Eagles will host a first round game on Tuesday against an opponent to be determined at the conclusion of regular season play this weekend.

The Eagles shot the ball well from long range hitting a season-high 58.8 percent of their three-point attempts. Embry-Riddle also had its best shooting night of the year from the charity stripe, hitting 13 of 14 free throws to finish at 92.9 percent.

The Royals appeared to be in control in the opening minutes, as the Eagles turned the ball over three times and hit just three of nine shots from the field in the first eight minutes. When a media timeout was called with 8:39 left in the half, the Eagles had shot only 33 percent from the field and trailed the Royals by six (19-13).

The timeout proved to be a turning point for the Eagles as Brandon Caputo hit one of his 10 three-pointers of the season to trigger an 18-2 run and in the span of three minutes, the Eagles went from being down by six to taking a 10-point lead (31-21).

The Royals were able to close the gap to three points with 2:03 left in the half, but Eric Lorenzi hit his first three of the night to stop the Royal run. On the Eagles' next possession, Ray Graham got the ball to David Butler on the left side and Butler, who was 1-of 12 in three-pointers coming into Tuesday's game, not only nailed the long-range shot, but he converted on the free throw after being fouled on the shot to complete the four-point play. That series put the Eagles up by 10 and they took a nine-point lead into the intermission.

When the first media timeout of the second half was called at the 14:58 mark, each team had scored nine points in the half. One minute later, Lorenzi got three points the old-fashioned way and that sparked a 27-6 run that gave the Blue and Gold a 30-point cushion. During that stretch, the Eagles hit all four of their three-point attempts, including two by Glenn Dalcourt, one by Lorenzi and Butler's second of the game. In addition, to getting the job done offensively, the Eagles also dominated the Royals on the boards collecting 29 rebounds to Warner's 13 in the second half.

Butler closed out a strong all-around performance with 20 points, eight rebounds, three assists, three blocks, three steals and no turnovers in 24 minutes off the bench. Lorenzi finished with 17 points, three assists and four boards, while Graham tallied his third double-double of the year with 12 points and 11 rebounds. Dalcourt was 5-for-7 from the field, including 3-of-5 from long range to finish with 13 points and seven boards, and Blake Touchard added 10 points and three assists to the Eagle tally.

Derell Henderson was the leading scorer for the Royals with a game-high 21 points and 12 rebounds. Warner, who also got 13 points from Brennan Taylor and 12 from Durell Sykes, now stands at 18-9 overall and 9-6 in league play.

The Eagles close out the regular season at home on Saturday when they host Webber International. Game time is slated for 7 p.m.