DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The fifth-ranked Embry-Riddle men's basketball team survived a spirited rally by Southeastern to earn a hard-fought victory over the Fire, 78-73, in Sun Conference action on Wednesday. The win moves the Eagles to 22-3 on the year and 10-2 in conference play, while the Fire falls to 13-12 and 3-8 in league play.

David Butler scored the first six points of the game and his eighth point not only increased the Eagle lead to 13-4, it also gave Butler his 1000th career point at ERAU. The senior is only the 11th player in Embry-Riddle history to achieve 1,000 career points and 500 career rebounds. He achieved that feat in just two years at Embry-Riddle and will graduate as the Eagles' all-time leader in blocked shots having set a new career record in that category earlier this season.

The Eagles seemingly had the game in hand as they led by 14 points (27-13) with 9:32 left in the first half. While Butler led the way for the Eagles in scoring with 10 points in the first half, Brett Rawlings was dominant for the Blue and Gold on the boards recording eight of his nine first-half rebounds in the first six and half minutes of the game. But Rawlings' and Butler's performances could not prevent the Fire from staging a comeback.

After Rawlings hit a three at the 9:32 mark, the Eagles struggled to find the offense that had served them well in the opening minutes of the first frame. Over the next seven minutes, ERAU turned the ball over five times and those miscues were compounded by the fact that the Eagles were unable to convert on offense, missing eight field goal attempts in a row.

Meanwhile, the Fire was able to get its offense going and back-to-back free throws by Javaris Jackson gave Southeastern its first lead of the game (33-32) with 3:09 left in the half. Both teams took turns clinging to one-point leads in the last three minutes of the half, but neither team was able to pull away and when the clock expired, the score was tied, 36-36.

Just nine seconds into the second stanza, Blake Touchard got the ball Rawlings on the wing and the senior drained his second three-pointer of the night to put the Eagles back up by three, but the lead was short-lived as Southeastern tied the score on a John Williams lay-up and moved back in front (41-39) on a lay-up by Malcolm Pollock. The Fire managed to hold on to the lead for the next three minutes until Ray Graham's lay-up drew the Eagles level a 48-48 and Touchard drained one of his four three-pointers to put the Eagles ahead 51-48 with 13:35 left to play.

Over the next two minutes, both teams jockeyed to stay on top until the 11:18 mark when Touchard hit another long range jumper to put the Eagles ahead for good. On two separate occasions, the Fire were able to pull within one point, but both times, the Eagles had an answer and at the 7:42 mark, Rawlings' third trey triggered a 12-4 run that gave ERAU its largest lead of the half of nine points (72-63).

The Fire looked to the long-range shot to put them back in contention in the closing seconds of the game and got one each from Chris Patterson and Nathan Marshall. On the defensive end, Southeastern elected to send Embry-Riddle to the free throw line, but the Eagles responded by hitting each of their last four attempts from the charity stripe to seal the win.

Butler finished just one rebound shy of a double-double, tallying 12 points and nine boards to go with four assists and seven blocked shots. Rawlings also just missed the double-double, finishing with 11 points, nine rebounds and two assists. Touchard was the leading scorer for the Blue and Gold for the second straight game, totaling 18 points, 12 of which were of the three-point variety.

Blankenship matched Touchard's scoring total of 18 and pulled down 13 boards in the Southeastern effort. Julius Williams (14), John Williams (11) and Marshall (10) joined Blankenship as the Fire's double-digit scorers.

The Eagles take a break from conference play on Saturday when they travel to Jacksonville to take on former Sun Conference opponent Edward Waters. Tip-off is scheduled for 4 p.m.

Saturday's game will be carried live online via Stretch Internet beginning at 4 p.m., with a tape delayed broadcast on Goliath Radio 1380-AM (http://www.goliathradio.com) beginning at 6 p.m.