LAKE WALES, Fla. – The Embry-Riddle men's basketball suffered a tough loss on Saturday, falling to No. 22 Warner 81-64 in Sun Conference play. The loss evened the Eagles' (12-8) conference record at 3-3 and they are now tied with the Royals (14-6) for fourth place in the conference standings.

Playing on their home court, the Royals had the early advantage, scoring four unanswered points to start the contest. On the other side of the ball, the Eagles missed their first five shots and turned the ball over four times in the first four minutes play.

The scoring drought finally ended for ERAU at the 16-minute mark when Daniel Mondragon knocked down a three to make the score 4-3. That basket was the start of a 10-2 Eagle run that gave the Blue and Gold a 10-6 lead.

The Eagles led until the 11:20 mark, but a series of defensive lapses over the next 56 seconds resulted in three ERAU turnovers, which allowed the Royals to reclaim the lead (20-19). Embry-Riddle was able tie things up at 22-22, but Warner, moved ahead by five (27-22) on a pair of free throws and a three by Brandon Poore.

With 2:06 remaining in the half, Ray Graham finished a feed from Blake Touchard and that triggered a frenzied scoring effort by ERAU over the next 48 second that took the Eagles from being down by five to a 28-27 lead. Graham made it a two-point game by knocking down a free throw with five seconds left in the half, but after drawing an Eagle foul, the Royals got the ball to Bryce Kachinski who hit one of his six three-pointers as time expired to give Warner the momentum and a 30-29 edge heading into the break.

Kachinski started the second half the way he ended the first; with a bucket from long range. Touchard responded by making two free throws, but Warner answered by getting the ball inside to Malcolm Campbell whose layup started a 9-4 run and extended the Royal lead to seven (42-35).

Touchard, who scored the first seven Eagles points of the second frame, pulled the Eagles back within four and a pair of Graham free throws and a Mondragon layup tied the score at 42-42 with 14:37 remaining. On the next Warner trip down the floor, the Royals got the ball to Campbell again and his jumper ignited a 21-4 run that gave Warner the lead for good.


The Royals shot 50.8 percent (31-of-61) from the field and were led by Campbell and Kachinski who combined for 51 of the Royals 81 points, tallying 26 and 25 points, respectively.

Touchard was the leading scorer for the Eagles with 16, while Graham added 14 points and DeForest Carter finished with 11.Touchard also finished with a game-high seven rebounds and had four assists on the night. Carter matched Touchard's assist output and collected five steals in the Eagle effort.

The Eagles will be on the road again on Wednesday when they travel to Miami to take on Johnson and Wales. Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m.