WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – The fourth-ranked Embry-Riddle men's basketball team suffered its first conference loss of the season, falling 77-73 to No. 10 Northwood at the Countess de Hoernle Center on Monday. The Eagles now stand at 15-2 overall and 3-1 in the league, while the Seahawks moved to the top of the league standings with a 4-0 conference record and a 13-2 mark overall.

The top-10 match-up promised a high level of intensity and that is exactly what fans witnessed for 40 minutes. The Seahawks scored the first points of the game from the free throw line, but the Eagles' immediately answered with two points from David Butler and a back-and-forth battle ensued over the first 10 minutes of the first half.

At the 10:01 mark, reigning Sun Conference Player of the Week, Jonathan Dunn, made a lay-up that tied the game for the sixth time in the first frame. That basket triggered a 10-2 run that gave Northwood a nine-point lead with 6:39 left in the half. The Eagles managed to cut the lead to three, but the Seahawks, who shot 65.5 percent from the field in the first half, took advantage of Butler not being on the floor due to foul trouble in the closing minutes of the half and built the lead to 52-41 at the intermission.

Coming out of the break, the Seahawks rode the momentum of the first-half performance and extended the advantage to 13 points (56-43), but the Eagles use three-pointers by Brett Rawlings and Glenn Dalcourt on back-to-back possessions to cut the lead to five (58-53) with 16:01 left to play.

Although the Seahawks' shooting cooled considerably in the second stanza – 36.4 percent from the field and 0-for-7 from beyond the arc – they were still able to build the cushion back up to 11 points with 7:41 remaining. At the 6:25 mark, Butler drove to the basket for a lay-up and that was the start of a 6-0 Eagle run that pulled the Blue and Gold within three (72-69) with 2:37 showing on the clock.

Following a successful trip to the charity stripe by Butler, the Eagles employed a full-court press and the strategy worked as Northwood was unable to get the ball past half-court resulting in a backcourt violation that returned the ball to the Eagles. However, the Eagles attempt to tie the game bounced off the rim and into the hands of the Seahawks who converted at the other end to go back up by five.

Two more free throws by Butler made it a 74-71 game in favor of the Seahawks and after rebounding a Northwood miss at the free throw line, the Eagles had a chance to cut into that lead once again. The Eagles were unable to score on their next possession and again Northwood was able to convert on the other end of the floor. Blake Touchard scored two of his 15 points with eight seconds remaining, but a made free throw by Northwood's Thierno Agne with four seconds left put the game just out of reach and gave the Seahawks the win.

Butler finished with 21 points to lead all Eagle scorers, while Rawlings joined Butler and Touchard in double figures with 11. Dunn had a game-high 23 points for the Seahawks, while Patrick Horstmann registered the game's only double-double with 17 points and 11 boards.

The Eagles close out their three game road swing on Wednesday when they travel to Lake Wales to take on Warner. Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m.