DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The Northwood men's basketball team came out on the winning end of a battle between two Top 10 teams as the second-ranked Seahawks downed No. 5 Embry-Riddle 66-60 in Sun Conference action on Monday. The outcome marked the first Eagle loss at the ICI Center since Jan. 23, 2010, and brings their overall record to 21-3 overall and 9-2 in league play.

The Seahawks controlled the opening tip but it was the Eagles who scored first on a lay-up by Ray Graham. The next five minutes for the Eagles were dominated by Brett Rawlings who recorded a pair of blocks, two rebounds and hit back-to-back three-pointers to put the Eagles up by six (10-4). The Seahawks, who came into the game shooting almost 42 percent from long range, quickly closed the gap to two points (14-12) courtesy of three pointers by Noah Keeton and Jonathan Dunn. 

Dunn's second three-pointer gave the Seahawks their first lead of the night and they continued to lead until the seven-minute mark when David Butler got the ball in to Brandon Caputo for a lay-up  to put the Eagles back on top, 23-22. The Eagles were able to build lead back up to as many as five points, but once again Northwood rallied to reclaim the advantage and closed out the half on a 6-2 run to take a 36-30 lead into the locker room at the break.

The start of the second half saw the Seahawks widen the gap to 10 points and still held that advantage (51-41) with 10:27 left to play. After  Keeton hit his second three-point of the half, Jarod Leonard finished a feed from Butler to make the score 51-43. Glenn Dalcourt pulled down the rebound from Dunn's long range miss on the next Seahawk possession and that led to two more points by Butler to make it a six-point (51-45) game.

Northwood was able to go back up by eight on the next trip down the court, but the Eagles continued to battle back and Blake Touchard's hand-off to Butler in the paint led to an emphatic dunk that pulled the Eagles within five, 55-50.

Fueled by the very vocal support of the 1,466 fans in attendance, the Eagles recorded a key defensive stop with 5:28 remaining when Ray Graham blocked Dunn's lay-up attempt. The Seahawks were able to come up with the offensive rebound, but weren't able to beat the shot clock, giving the ball back to the Eagles.

Once again, the Eagles were able to get the ball to Butler on the inside, but this time the senior was fouled on his way to the basket resulting in two free throws. After making the first free throw, Butler grabbed his own rebound when he missed the second. At the 4:22 mark, Dalcourt got the ball to Touchard at the top of the arc and Touchard drained one of his five three-pointers to make it a one-point (55-54) game.

With 2:04 left to play and the Eagles still trailing by one (56-55), Dalcourt forced Tyrone Davis to turn the ball over at mid court. Dalcourt's quick attempt at a three-pointer bounced off the rim and into the hands of the Seahawks who immediately called a timeout. Coming out of the huddle, the Seahawks got the ball to their leading scorer, Dunn (24.2 ppg) knocked down one of his four three-point baskets to build the Northwood lead back up to four (59-55).

On their next possession, ERAU managed to draw a foul. The Eagles, who found little success at the free throw line, shooting just 43 percent for the game, missed both free throw attempts and after Northwood rebounded the second miss, the Eagles resorted to fouling in the last 1:10. Despite the roar of the crowd willing them to miss, the Seahawk players made 10 of 12 free throws in the second half, including seven of their last eight attempts en route to the six-point victory.

Touchard, who scored all of the Eagles' last five points, finished as the high scorer for the Blue and Gold with a season-high 21 points, four assists and two steals in 33 minutes of action. Butler had 20 points on 8-of-11 shooting to go with his six rebounds, three assists and two blocks.

Dunn also had 21 points for the Seahawks who solidified their hold on the top spot in the conference race and are now 21-2 overall and 10-0 in league play.
 
The Eagles' next game will be at 7 p.m. on Wednesday when they host Southeastern at the ICI Center.