OPA LOCKA, Fla. – The Embry-Riddle men's basketball suffered a tough loss on the road on Wednesday, falling 66-65 to Sun Conference foe Florida Memorial. The loss moves the Eagles to 23-4 overall and 10-3 in conference play, while the Lions improved to 12-14 overall and 8-6 in the league.

The Eagles got a strong performance from junior Blake Touchard who finished with a season-high 23 points, including six three-pointers, five assists and six rebounds. David Butler was the only other player in double digits for the Eagles and finished with 14 points, seven boards and six blocked shots.

Matthew Rolle and Bryan Portillo combined to score the first points of the game for the Lions at the 19:13 mark, but the Eagles answered almost immediately when Butler finished a Brandon Caputo pass with a two-handed slam. Butler scored eight of the Eagles' first 10 points and his 11 first-half scores helped ERAU maintain a lead for the majority of the first stanza.

The Eagles were only 38.5 percent shooting from the field compared to the Lions' 41.4 percent clip, but the Eagles made 14 trips to the free throw line to the Lions' six, and knocked down three three-pointers to just one by the Lions to take a 33-29 lead at the intermission.

Coming out of the break, the Eagles hovered between a five and seven-point advantage and were able to build the lead up to nine points just before the midway point of the second half.

At the 14:32 mark, a dubious foul was called against Butler. That call loomed large in that it sent Butler to the bench with four fouls and sent the Lions to the charity stripe for the remainder of the half as the Eagles had been called for seven fouls to just one on the Lions. The Eagles managed to maintain their composure and on the next Lion possession, they rebounded the FMU miss and turned it in to a three-point basket by Touchard at the other end of the floor.

Antwan Baggs answered with a three-pointer of his own on the Lions' next possession and that triggered an 8-4 run that pulled the Lions within two (48-46) with 9:56 left to play. Over the next minute and a half of play, the Lions hit a lay-up and connected on two of their 20 second half free throws to knot the score at 50-50.

Baggs' second three of the game gave the Lions their first lead of the half at the 7:57 mark and they maintained an advantage until a three-pointer by Touchard and a jumper by Glenn Dalcourt put the Eagles back on top by one (60-59) with 3:21 left to play. A pair of free throws by Felix Borger reclaimed the lead for FMU but once again, the Eagles had an answer from Touchard who drained another of his six three-pointers to make it 63-61 in favor of the Blue and Gold.

On the next Lions' possession, Baggs pulled up about four feet behind the arc and hit his third three of the half to put FMU back up, 64-63. The Eagles then had two chances to reclaim the lead, but a missed free throw and a jump shot to give the ball back to the Lions with 1:13 remaining.

Florida Memorial managed to get the ball into the hands of its leading scorer George Gray, but the guard was blocked by Dalcourt on his way to the basket and his second attempt was corralled by Butler, giving the Eagles another chance at the lead with 37 seconds left. The Eagles broke the Lion press and got the ball to Danny Krazit who was fouled as he tried to split a pair of FMU defenders with 25 seconds showing on the clock. Going into Wednesday's game Krazit had only made 7-of-14 from the charity stripe but on this night, the senior knocked down both free throw attempts to put ERAU back in front 65-64.

After calling a timeout, Florida Memorial elected to let Gray control the offense. Gray opted to drive toward the basket and threw up an off-balance shot that bounced off the rim, but an official judged Gray to have been fouled by Butler with 12 seconds left, sending Gray to the free throw line and Butler to the bench with his fifth foul. Gray hit both free throws for a 66-65 FMU lead, prompting the Eagles to call a timeout to set up a play.

Coming out of the huddle, the ball-handling responsibilities went to Touchard once again and the junior drove to the basket and made a lay-up, but the shot was waived off as he was called for traveling. With just five seconds left, the Eagles were unable to come up with another offensive set and the Lions emerged with the one-point win.

The Eagles will be back in the Miami area on Saturday evening for a 7 p.m. tip-off against St. Thomas.