LAKELAND, Fla. –  In the first meeting of 2012 between the Embry-Riddle and Southeastern basketball teams, Southeastern won by seven. The second meeting saw the Fire take a six-point win on their home court. Tuesday's Sun Conference quarterfinal match-up was a different story as fifth-seeded ERAU (17-14), led by seniors Ray Graham and Blake Touchard, toppled fourth-seeded SEU, 93-87 to advance to the semifinals of The Sun Conference tournament.

Faced with a do-or-die situation in the single elimination tournament, the senior duo put the team on their shoulders as Graham scored a game-high 26 points, followed closely by Touchard with 25. DeForest Carter added 15 points as all eight players who took the floor for the Blue and Gold got into the scoring column.

The first three and half minutes featured three ties and two lead changes as each team tried to establish its offense. At the 16:06 mark, Malcolm Pollock scored two of his nine first-half points and that started a 9-0 Fire run that allowed the home team to take a 15-6 lead.

Marko Zjacic, who gave the Eagles valuable minutes, ended the scoring drought with a layup off a feed from Graham and over the next 1:30, the Eagles scored six unanswered to make it a one-point game (17-16) with 11:34 left in the half. The Fire still held a one-point advantage at the 8:55 mark, but over the next five minutes, the home team steadily added to its lead and increased that advantage to seven points with 3:58 remaining.

A 9-2 Eagle run led to the fifth tie of the half with 1:01 left. The Eagles had a chance to take the lead but the Fire grabbed an ERAU miss and converted from the free throw line on the other end to go back up by four.

With eight seconds remaining, Zjacic inbounded the ball to Touchard and the senior, who went close to 18 minutes before scoring his first points of the game, took the ball to the basket and earned a chance at three the old-fashioned way as he was fouled on the play. As the ball went through the hoop, the buzzer went off indicated the end of the period, however, the officials ruled that there was 1.1 seconds left on the clock. After Touchard completed the three-point play, the Fire attempted a three-quarter-court heave but the attempt fell way short of the mark, making the score 45-44 in favor of the Fire at the half.

Dyami Thurman scored the first field goal of the second half, but the Eagles, behind three treys by Touchard and another by Cesar Pastrana, and a pair of monster dunks by Graham jumped out in front by seven and still held a seven-point advantage (65-58) with 8:49 left to play.

Following a wholesale substitution by Southeastern, the Fire registered eight straight points to make it a one-point game (73-72) with 6:38 left. The Eagles recovered from the rally to put together another run, which gave them an 84-77 advantage, but once again the Fire battled back and a layup by Malcolm Pollock pulled SEU back within three and their full court press prompted ERAU Head Coach Steve Ridder to call a timeout with 1:31 left.

Coming out of the huddle the Eagles were faced with not only stifling defensive pressure by the Fire, but also the clamoring of 1000 Southeastern fans trying to will their team to victory. The Eagles got the ball into Mondragon on the left side. Touchard, standing at half court, called for the ball and drove to the basket for the layup and added the extra point after being fouled on the play.

Touchard's three-points took some of the wind out of the crowd's sails and the fans quieted even more when Graham rebounded Thurman's miss from long range, giving the Eagles a chance to add to their lead. On the ensuing Eagle possession, Touchard went to the charity stripe again and after he made just one of his two free throw attempts, the Fire came back with a Chris Carlyle three on the other end to make it a three point game (87-84) with 43 seconds left.

Free throws by Carter and Pastrana put the Eagles up by six, but again the Fire answered with another three to make the score 90-87 in favor of the Blue and Gold with 29 seconds remaining.

The last 19 seconds of play saw both teams made two trips each to the free throw line, but whereas the  Fire came up empty on each of their last two tries, Eagles, who were 20-of-28 from the charity stripe, made three of their last four attempts to seal the win.

Pollock was the leading scorer for the Fire, whose Sun Conference season comes to an end at 18-13.

ERAU's semifinal opponent with be top-seed and top-ranked Northwood who breezed through its quarterfinal game against Webber International 106-84. The semifinal game will take place at Northwood's de Hoernle Center at 7 p.m. on Friday. The Sun Conference tournament champion will earn an automatic bid to the NAIA National Championship in Point Lookout, Mo. Mar 7-13.