DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - The NAIA II No. 4 Embry-Riddle Eagles continued their string of comeback victories on Sunday night, exiting an overtime contest with SUNY Cortland with a 74-71 win in the Land of Magic Classic. The Eagles hit 18-of-20 free throws, including several clutch ones down the stretch, en route to their 11th consecutive victory, moving to 13-1 overall while the Red Dragons fall to 8-2 on the year.
The first half was a defensive battle as both teams shot under 40 percent from the floor and combined for just 4-for-24 from beyond the arc. However, Cortland's Jesse Winter had no problem getting buckets for the visitors, scoring 20 points on 8-for-12 shooting, incuding 3-for-5 from three, to lead the Dragons to a three-point halftime advantage at 29-26.
Embry-Riddle got eight and seven points from
Cesar Pastrana and
DeForest Carter respectively, but was just 1-for-10 from three-point range while committing nine turnovers that led to 12 Dragon points.
Rico Saldana began the second half with a layup off a pass from Carter, one of his 10 assists on the night, and Pastrana gave the Eagles a one-point lead with a pair of free throws on the next Blue and Gold possession.
Neither team could open up a comfortable cushion over the next several minutes, but a Jeremy Smith trey with 6:13 left in the second gave Cortland their largest lead of the game at 51-44.
The Blue and Gold got two quick threes from
Daniel Mondragon and
Brandon Serle to cut the lead to one at 51-50 with 5:13 left.
After the Dragons got the lead back to four, Pastrana delivered two makes from the charity stripe and
Jason Powell tipped-in a two-point basket to knot the score at 54-54 at the 2:22 mark.
Pastrana got an and-one to put his team up three at 57-54, but Winters tied it with a three of his own with 1:39 left.
Mondragon hit a huge three for the hosts with 23 seconds left in regulation and on the ensuing Dragon possession, Harrison Hefel was fouled by Carter with five seconds on the clock. Hefele hit the first free throw but missed the second, however, the ball went off an Eagle player out of bounds to give Cortland the ball under the hoop.
Hefele was fouled again by Carter with three seconds left and this time made both his free throws to tie the game at 60-60 and send the game to overtime.
The Eagles, playing in their first overtime game of the 2012-13 season, took a quick two-point lead in the extra period on a pair of Carter free throws, but Cortland answered with a three from Smith to retake the lead.
With the Eagles leading by one Mondragon hit the third of his four three-pointers to extend the Embry-Riddle lead to 67-63 at the 2:57 mark. The senior hit his final trey of the night just a few moments later to give the Eagles a five-point lead at 70-65.
The rest of the contest was a free throw shooting clinic for the Blue and Gold as Pastrana gave the Eagles a four-point lead at 72-68 with 20 seconds left, but another three from Smith cut the advantage to one just a few seconds later.
Pastrana hit his eighth and ninth from the charity stripe with 11 seconds remaining for a 74-71 lead, and when Smith's three-point attempt was offline with four seconds left, Powell grabbed the board to secure the victory for Embry-Riddle.
Pastrana led the way for the Eagles with 23 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the floor and a perfect 9-for-9 night at the free throw line. He recorded a double-double with 11 rebounds and was joined by Carter as the Montverde, Fla. native scored 14 points and dished out 10 assists. Mondragon chipped in 14 points and assisted on seven buckets while Powell grabbed 10 rebounds for the Blue and Gold.
Winter led all scorers with 30 points and Smith added 14 for the Dragons.
Embry-Riddle returns to action on Jan. 2 against Ashford (Iowa) in the Bahama House Classic in the ICI Center.
