DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - The NAIA II No. 16 Embry-Riddle Eagles escaped with their second five-point victory in as many days on Saturday evening, emerging with an exciting, 78-73 comeback win over NAIA I Brewton-Parker (Ga.) in the ICI Center. The Blue and Gold improve to 7-1 overall, stretching their winning streak to five games, while the Barons drop to 1-6.
The Eagles trailed by 12 with just over 10 minutes to play, but the hosts would go on to outscore BPC 30-13 the rest of the way to send Brewton-Parker to their fifth consecutive defeat.
Embry-Riddle took an 8-4 lead early on in the contest on a tip-in by
DeForest Carter, but Jose Davila would hit a three-pointer with 14:51 left in the first to give his team their first lead of the game at 11-10. Neither team led by more than two points until the 8:47 mark when Greg Butler hit a runner in the lane, extending the Barons' lead to three at 24-21.
The Eagles were plagued by turnovers and poor free throw shooting in the opening period, giving the ball away 15 times and shooting just 40 percent from the charity stripe.
Jeremiah Applin hit a trey with a minute remaining in the first to cut the BPC lead to two, but Stefan Frank answered back with a three ball of his own to push the Baron lead back to five at 38-33, an advantage the visitors took into the break.
Cesar Pastrana had 11 of the Eagles' 33 in the first, while both
Rico Saldana and
Jason Powell chipped in six each for Embry-Riddle. Davila led the way for Brewton-Parker with 10 points and three assists.
The second half looked bleak for the 16th-ranked Eagles as the Barons led comfortably for the first 13 minutes of the last period, including another 12-point advantage at the 7:13 mark.
Consecutive three-pointers by Carter trimmed the lead to six before Dawda Njie ended the spurt with a dunk. However, the Eagles got two free throws and a layup from Pastrana, followed by a pair of technical free throws from Powell to get within two at 67-65 with 4:11 left in the game.
Carter got a fastbreak layup on the next Eagle possession to tie the game at 67-67, but Darrie Stephens got fouled by Pastrana on the ensuing offensive trip for the Barons, and the BPC big man buried both free throws to give BPC a 71-69 advantage.
Embry-Riddle took its first lead of the night on an and-one layup by Pastrana off a great feed from
Daniel Mondragon, one of the senior's game-high nine assists in the game. Pastrana's free throw gave ERAU a 72-71 lead, one they never gave up.
Mondragon found Pastrana again after a missed layup from Davila, and the Cartegena, Colombia native recorded his 22nd and 23rd points of the contest in the paint before fouling out on the defensive end after Powell converted another two free throws for the Blue and Gold.
Up by three with 13 seconds remaining, Carter was fouled and accounted for the final with a pair of makes from the charity stripe.
Pastrana finished the night with 23 points and five rebounds, while Carter recorded 20 points, five rebounds, five assists and four steals. Powell also finished in double-figures with 16 and grabbed a team-high eight rebounds.
Davila had 17 points for the Barons, followed by Warren LaBeauf's 16 and Njie's 10. The rebound battle went to BPC by a slim, 35-34 margin.
The Eagles now turn their sights to a pair of Sun Conference games next week in the ICI Center as Florida Memorial and No. 1 Northwood come to town on Nov. 28 and Dec. 1 respectively.
