LAKE WALES, Fla. – The Embry-Riddle men's basketball team rebounded from a tough loss at Northwood to take an 81-63 road win against conference foe Warner, Wednesday at the Turner Athletic Center. Ray Graham led the way for the Eagles, posting his third double-double of the season with a game-high 20 points and 13 rebounds as the Eagles improved to 16-2 overall and 4-1 in The Sun Conference.

The Eagles got off to an uncharacteristically sluggish start as it took the team almost three minutes to register its first points of the game. ERAU turned the ball over on two of its first three possessions and missed its first three shot attempts. The Eagles' slow start allowed the Royals to tally nine unanswered points for a 9-0 lead.

David Butler finally scored the Eagles' first points on a lay-up at the 17:04 mark and that basket awakened the Eagles' defense and offense. The Eagles forced four consecutive Royal miscues and behind six points from Jarod Leonard, ERAU was able to claw its way back into the game and took over the lead (12-11) at the 14:25 mark on a Blake Touchard lay-up.

Over the next three and half minutes neither team was able to convert on its offensive opportunities. Warner finally ended the drought when Malcolm Campbell made one of two free throws to tie the score at 12-12 with 11:12 left in the half. Embry-Riddle was able to surge ahead once again and led by eight (26-18) at the 5:16 mark, but Warner battled back to take the lead. The Royals led 30-28 with 1:05 left in the half and had a chance to extend that lead, but Brennan Taylor's three-pointer missed the mark and after Graham grabbed the rebound for ERAU, Touchard drove to the basket to knot the score at 30-30 at the intermission.

The first five minutes of the second frame featured four ties and three lead changes. The Eagles went 0-for-5 from the three-point line in the first half, but Brandon Caputo finally broke through from beyond the arc with the team's only three of the night to put ERAU up 42-39. The Eagle defense forced Allan Keen to cough up the basketball on the Royals' next trip down the court and the stoppage in play led to a media timeout.

Whatever ERAU Head Coach Steve Ridder said during the timeout seemed to fire up his troops as the Eagles came out of the huddle and rattled off 10 points for which Warner had no answer. The Royals briefly halted the Eagle run thanks to a jumper by Taylor, but the Eagles continued to pour on the offense and with 6:41 left to play, they led by 20 (67-47), including an emphatic tip-dunk by Graham.

The Royals were able to cut the lead to 14 points (55-69) with 4:06 remaining, but they could not get any closer as the Eagles overcame early free throw woes to knock down six in a row down the stretch to pull out the 18-point victory.

Touchard matched Graham's scoring prowess with 20 points of his own, while Butler recorded his sixth double-double of the year with 12 points and 12 rebounds. Leonard finished with 14 points and four rebounds on the night.

Foul trouble had a significant impact on the Eagles' game plan as two of their big men – Butler and Brett Rawlings – were forced to sit with four fouls each with 13:21 left in the contest. Will Benjamin came off the bench and played a major role in filling the void. He was a perfect 3-for-3 from the floor and 1-for-1 from the charity stripe, tallying all of his seven points and two rebounds in the second period.

Taylor finished as the leading scorer for Warner who fell to 8-8 overall and 2-4 in league play with the loss.

The Eagles return to the ICI Center on Saturday, Jan. 15 at 7 p.m. to host conference foe Florida Memorial.