NORTH MIAMI, Fla. – The Embry-Riddle men's basketball team rebounded from last Saturday's loss to top Johnson & Wales 80-64 in Sun Conference play, Wednesday at the new Wildcat Center on JWU's campus. Senior
Ray Graham erupted for a career-high 36 points and pulled down 11 rebounds as the Eagles improved their record to 13-8 overall and 4-3 in league play
The Eagles shot the ball well to start the game, connecting on six of their first nine shots on the way to a 48.6 percent (17-of-35) shooting performance from the field in the first half. Graham paced the Eagle offense scoring 10 of the Eagles' first 13 points on the way to a 24-point first half.
The lead changed three times in the first five and a half minutes of play.
Justin Bozzelli knotted the score at 15-15 with his only basket of the game and layups by Graham and
DeForest Carter put ERAU ahead by four with 12:10 left in the half. The Wildcats managed to cut the lead to two, but
Cesar Pastrana finished a feed from
Blake Touchard, which triggered a 13-5 run that extended the Eagle advantage to 10 (32-22) at the 5:47 mark. Carlos Montilla, who led the Wildcat scoring with 14 points in first frame, helped narrow the gap, but a solid defensive effort keyed by two blocks from Graham and another from
Sam Ford, helped the Eagles keep JWU at bay, and at the half ERAU led 43-35.
The Eagles scored on their first two possessions of the second half, but the Wildcats, behind a pair of long-range shots by Myles Smith and a strong offensive rebounding effort that led to 13 second chance points, chipped away at the lead and made it a two-point (55-53) game with 11:29 remaining in the contest.
Over the next two minutes, Touchard took control of the ERAU offense, connecting on back-to-back baskets and assisting Pastrana's layup to put the Eagles back up by six (61-55). After rebounding a Carter miss, Pastrana was fouled on the put-back attempt and the freshman knocked down both free throws to extend the advantage by eight (63-55). From that point, the Eagles continued to widen the gap and led by as many as 17 points on the way to the win.
Graham, who led all scorers, was 15-of-17 from the field, 6-of-8 from the charity stripe and finished the night with three blocked shots. Touchard added 13 points, seven assists and three boards, while Pastrana tallied a season-high eight points and nine rebounds.
Montilla (23 pts, 13 reb) and Joseph Lopez (15 pts, 13 reb) led the scoring and rebounding efforts for the Wildcats who fall to 7-10 overall and 1-6 in the conference.
The Eagles return to the ICI Center at 7 p.m. on Saturday to host Ave Maria in a contest designated as the Coaches Fighting Cancer game. In support of the National Association of Basketball Coaches' Coaches vs. Cancer Suits and Sneakers Awareness program, the ERAU coaching staff will wear sneakers instead of dress shoes with their usual game attire and all fans are encouraged to do the same.
