DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - The NAIA II No. 16 Embry-Riddle Eagles won their third straight against a NAIA I squad on Friday night, downing the Wolf Pack of Loyola (La.), 73-68. The Eagles saw a 16-point lead evaporate, but ended the game on a 6-0 run to claim their fourth straight win and move to 6-1 overall, Loyola drops to 4-3 on the year.

The game began with a layup by Loyola's Robert Lovaglio, the first two points of his season and game-high 38. A jumper by McCall Tomeny gave the Wolf Pack a 4-0 lead before a free throw by Cesar Pastrana put the Eagles on the board.

Loyola took its largest lead of the contest at the 14:44 mark in the first with a pair of free throws from Lovaglio. A few minutes later Jeremiah Applin connected on his first of three treys to knot the score at 18-18, and then repeated his long range accuracy on the Eagles' next trip down the floor, giving the Blue and Gold its first lead of the night.

Applin's three-point shooting acted as a catalyst for a 12-2 Eagle run as the hosts pushed their advantage to 10 at the 8:28 mark (30-20). The Blue and Gold maintained a healthy lead until 1:48 to go in the first period when Loyola scored the final six points of the half, including a layup at the buzzer by Lovaglio to cut the Eagle advantage to 37-33 at the break.

The Eagles shot 44 percent in the first frame, including a 5-for-15 mark from behind the arc, while the visitors managed only a 36 percent clip from the field.

Embry-Riddle came out firing to open the second half, scoring eight consecutive points, capped by a layup from Rico Saldana. Pastrana gave the Eagles their largest lead of the night with an and-one at the 13:31 mark, making the free-throw to expand the advantage to 16 (55-39).

Lovaglio took over for the Wolf Pack over the next five minutes, pouring in 13 of his team's 16 points in a 16-0 run by Loyola, tying the game at 55-55 with 8:01 remaining. He buried a trio of three-pointers and added two layups, including the tying basket after he got an offensive rebound when Manuel Gandara's layup was blocked by Eagle Daniel Kiesling.

Saldana broke a five-plus minute scoring draught for Embry-Riddle with a free throw at the 7:53 mark, and the Eagles reclaimed a six-point lead on a Billy Serle three-pointer with just under six minutes to play. However, the Wolf Pack responded, again tying the game with 3:30 left in regulation on a Tomeny dunk.

The next few minutes saw the Eagles and Wolf Pack battle back-and-forth, including three lead-changes and one tie in the final two minutes of play.

With the Eagles leading 67-66 with less than a minute left, Lovaglio got fouled and sunk both his shots from the charity stripe to give his team a one-point advantage. On the Blue and Gold's next possession, Pastrana returned the favor, sinking both his free throws for a 69-68 Eagle lead with 16 seconds left in the game.

Daniel Kuhn missed a contested layup with nine seconds left and a defensive rebound by Powell forced the Wolf Pack to foul sending the sophomore to the line. Powell calmy made both free throws to give the Eagles a three-point cushion at 71-68.

Embry-Riddle wisely fouled Kyle Simmons in the backcourt with six seconds left, and the sophomore missed the front-end of a one-and-one which Kiesling rebounded and was immediately fouled.

Kiesling connected on his pair of free throws, while Lovaglio's three at the end of the game was off target, accounting for the 73-68 final.

The Eagles made their final six free throws, finishing the contest 13-for-19 for 68 percent. Pastrana led the Eagles with 16 points on 5-for-8 shooting from the field and a 6-for-8 night from the charity stripe. DeForest Carter had 12 points and Billy Serle was the other Eagle in double-figures with 11.

Lovaglio's 38 came on 13-for-26 shooting and 8-for-10 from the free throw line, he also had a game-high 14 boards. Tomeny finished with 16 points and grabbed six rebounds.

The Eagles improved their all-time record to 3-0 against teams from the state of Louisiana, and will host Brewton-Parker (Ga.) Saturday evening at 5 p.m. The Wolf Pack will meet up with Sun Conference member Webber International in the ICI Center at 3 p.m.