DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The Embry-Riddle men's basketball team notched its second win against an NAIA Division I opponent this season with a 72-60 decision against William Carey in the final game of the 2011 Bahama House/Best Western Aku Tiki Shootout, Sunday at the ICI Center. The fourth-ranked Eagles are now 13-1 on the year, while the Crusaders fall to 8-6 with the loss.
Facing one of its toughest opponents since the Christmas break, ERAU struggled against William Carey's pressure defense in the first half, shooting just 34.3 percent from the field. Both teams put up similar numbers in the first 20 minutes of the game with each team connecting on 12 field goal attempts. The Crusaders held a 20-18 edge in rebounding, but made four of their six free throw attempts compared to the Eagles who only made one trip to the charity stripe. The Eagles were the better team from long range, knocking down four threes while the Crusaders were 0-for-5 from beyond the arc.
First half action featured four ties and eight lead changes. At the 7:31 mark, the Eagles went on a 5-0 run to claim a five-point advantage, its largest lead of the half, but the Crusaders responded with a five-point run of their own to knot the score once again and the game remained deadlocked at 28-28 at the half.
The beginning of the second half was tightly contested and at the 16:54 mark the score was still tied, 34-34. At the 16:39 mark, Blake Touchard forced Julius Blanks to cough up the basketball and after completing the steal, Touchard's quick outlet found Rawlings who scored two of his 11 second-half points on the play. On the next Crusader possession, David Butler grabbed a Kevin Branch miscue and Glenn Dalcourt completed the play with a three-point basket to put the Eagles up by five once again.
With 14:44 left to play, Jarod Leonard was fouled on a shot attempt. Leonard made the first free throw and missed the second, but the freshman refused to give up on the play and corralled his own miss. He missed the put-back but once again, he fought hard for the rebound and was successful on his next attempt, drawing another foul in the process. Leonard's completion of the three-point play gave the Eagles their biggest lead of nine points (43-34).
A Jaron Edwards three-pointer sparked a 10-2 William Carey run that made it a one-point game with 12:32 left on the clock. The Eagles quickly recovered and went on an 8-2 run of their own to go back up by eight.
Over the next 10 minutes, both teams traded baskets, allowing ERAU to maintain its eight-point advantage. At the 3:44 mark, Rawlings hit one of his two three-point baskets to put the Eagles up 62-51. The Crusaders missed their next shot attempt. That miss was compounded by a foul on Butler as he hauled down the rebound and a technical foul called on the bench that gave the Eagles four chances at the free throw line and the basketball. That sequence extended the ERAU lead to 14 (65-51) and although they struggled from the free throw line, shooting just 62.1 percent (18-29) for the game, the Eagles made seven of their last 10 free throw attempts to seal the 12-point win.
Rawlings led all scorers with 18 points and seven rebounds,
while Butler collected his fifth double-double of the year with 17 points and
12 boards to go with three blocks and two steals. Leonard added 12 points and
seven boards, and Touchard and Dalcourt tallied nine points apiece.
Sunday's game was Embry-Riddle's final tune-up before going into the heart of their conference schedule. The Eagles picked up a 79-65 win over Southeastern on Dec. 4 and will continue defense of their Sun Conference title at 7 p.m. on Wednesday when they host Ave Maria at the ICI Center.
