MIAMI, Fla. – The fourth-ranked Embry-Riddle men's basketball team overcame early shooting woes to notch its third Sun Conference win of the year with an 88-61 decision against Johnson & Wales on Saturday. The Eagles, who had 11 players contribute to the scoring, improved to 15-1 overall and 3-0 in league play.
It took a while for the Eagles to get their offense going as the managed just 13 points in the first 13 minutes of play. All the offense went through senior
David Butler, who scored 14 of the Eagles' first 15 points as ERAU led by just three points (15-12) with just over eight minutes left in the first half.
A lay-up by Butler at the 12:33 mark, on a feed from
Jarod Leonard, seemed to jump start the ERAU offense as they scored 13 unanswered over the next four minutes. On the other side of the floor, the Eagles employed a full-court press for the majority of the first 20 minutes. The pressure led to 23 first-half turnovers by the Wildcats, which the Eagles converted into 19 points.
Although the Eagles were able to pick up the scoring in the latter stages of the frame, they struggled from the three-point line, missing their first five attempts from long range. With 4:54 left on the clock,
Blake Touchard picked off a pass attempt by Alex Blue and after chasing down the loose ball, the junior got the ball to Will Benjamin with a savvy behind-the-back pass. The play eventually got the ball to
Glenn Dalcourt on the left side and Dalcourt drained the Eagles' first three of the contest to extend the advantage to 31-16.
Senior
Danny Krazit added an exclamation point to the Eagles' 22-point cushion at the end of the half. With 38 seconds remaining, the Wildcats elected to hold the ball for the last possession of the period, but their attempt was off the mark and
Ray Graham collected the rebound. Graham was called for traveling on the play giving the ball back to Johnson & Wales with one second remaining in the half. Krazit picked off the Wildcats' inbound pass, took a dribble and launched a shot from behind the half way line. As the clock expired, Krazit's shot swished through the net to give the Eagles a 46-21 lead at the break.
After shooting just 36.4 percent from beyond the arc in the first half, the Eagles turned things around in the second. Touchard connected on his second three-pointer of the contest to start the Eagles' scoring in the second half, but the next three minutes belonged to Dalcourt. The senior drained three pointers on back-to-back possessions and added two more points on a fast break after dispossessing Craig Wong at midcourt. Recognizing that Dalcourt had the hot hand, Touchard got the ball out to Dalcourt on the wing again and Dalcourt knocked down his fifth three of the game to put the Eagles up by 36 (64-28).
The Eagles led by as many as 40 points, but late in the game the Wildcats (4-10, 0-3) managed to make a bit of a comeback and managed to narrow the gap to 23 points before dropping their fourth conference game of the season.
Dalcourt was 6-of-8 from the field and 4-of-7 from the three-point line, and led all scorers with 17 points. Butler, Touchard and Leonard each scored 16 points, with Leonard recording the first double-double of his ERAU career with 16 points and 10 boards.
The Eagles next game takes them to West Palm Beach where they will face No. 10 Northwood. That contest is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Monday and can be heard live on 1380-AM in Daytona Beach or online at http://www.goliathradio.net.
