DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The Embry-Riddle men's basketball team ended its pre-conference slate with a tough loss on Saturday, falling to McKendree 66-60 at the ICI Center. The Eagles will head into the remainder of their conference schedule with a 10-6 overall record.
 
Blake Touchard had 21 points in the Eagle effort, followed by Ray Graham with 15. Sam Ford and DeForest Carter led the Eagles on the boards with seven rebounds apiece, while Carter dished out eight assists to go with his eight points, two blocks and two steals.
 
The Eagles scored the first five points of the game courtesy of a three-pointer by Touchard and a put-back by Graham, but after that there appeared to be a lid on the basket as their next seven attempts from the field bounced off the rim and into the hands of a McKendree player. ERAU's scoring drought allowed the Bearcats to take over the lead and they outscored the Blue and Gold 8-2 for an 11-7 advantage.
 
Baskets by Graham and Jeremiah Applin seemed to give the Eagles new life as they cut the lead to one point (16-15) with 9:33 left in the half, but the Bearcats responded by rattling off 10 unanswered for an 11-point lead.
 
At the 5:11 mark, Daniel Mondragon knocked down a pair of free throws to halt the McKendree run. Although they were only able to connect on 24 percent (6-of-25) of their field goals in the first 20 minutes, the Eagles continued to drive to the basket and were able to draw fouls and get to the free throw line. ERAU was 10-of-14 from the charity stripe compared to just one unsuccessful free throw attempt by the Bearcats and that allowed the Eagles to pull within striking distance and trail by just four points (28-24) at the break.
 
As was the case in the first half, the Eagles were the first to score in the second, but then missed their next four chances. On the other side of the ball, a three and a pair of free throws helped McKendree build its lead back up to seven.
 
Following a Bearcat miss, Mondragon got the ball to Touchard who buried one of his two long-range shots of the night.  McKendree followed with a layup but Touchard came right back with a layup of his own  and on the next Eagle possession, Jason Powell hit a three-pointer to pull the Eagles within three (37-34). Over the next three and a half minutes, the ERAU defense forced four turnovers and held the Bearcats to just two points. Touchard took over the Eagle offense and scored six in a row to give the Eagles their first lead of the second half (40-39) with 12:45 left to play.
 
The advantage was short-lived, however, as after the burst, the Eagles' struggle to get shots to fall continued, allowing McKendree to create some distance once again.
 
Although ERAU improved its shooting to 34.3 percent (12-of-35) from the field in the second half, it wasn't enough to catch the Bearcats who were 48 percent from the field with a 13-9 edge in free throws on the way to the six-point win.
 
Karrington Pettiford scored 18 points, while Sean Rakers added 15 for the Bearcats who improve to 11-8 and gave men's college basketball's all-time winningest coach, Harry Statham, his 1,054^th career victory.
 
The Eagles will now turn their attention to Sun Conference play, beginning with 15^th-ranked Southeastern who ERAU will host at the ICI Center at 7 p.m. on Wednesday.