DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The Embry-Riddle men's basketball team (15-10, 6-5) fell victim to a last second shot by Florida Memorial's Donovin McClendon in Sun Conference action on Monday. Mclendon's shot with six seconds left in the contest gave the visiting Lions (5-17, 2-9) a 72-71 victory over the Eagles at ERAU's ICI Center.
 
Senior Ray Graham led all scorers with 23 points on 8-of-10 shooting from the field and a 7-of-8 night from the charity stripe. DeForest Carter added 13 points to go with three assists, four blocks and four steals, while Blake Touchard (14 pts, 4 asst) and Justin Bozzelli (11 pts, 3 reb) rounded out the double-digit scorers for ERAU who move to 15-10 overall and 6-5 in league play.
 
The game was a see-saw battle from the beginning. The Eagles scored first, but the Lions answered immediately and both teams went back and forth until the 7:56 mark when a George Gray layup gave Florida Memorial a five-point (22-17) lead, the Lions' largest of the half.
 
FMU maintained that advantage until Bozzelli's three made it a two-point game with 4:29 left in the frame. Just over a minute and a half later, Carter sliced his way to the basket and his unassisted layup knotted the score at 30-30, but a pair of Eagle turnovers late in the half led to buckets by LaDante Berry-White and Mark Rolle and gave FMU a 34-30 halftime advantage.
 
ERAU recorded the first points of the second half on a Bozzelli three, but a pair of turnovers and two misses from the field on the next four Eagle possessions allowed the Lions to open up a 40-33 lead.
 
At the 16:48 mark, Bozzelli knocked down his third three of the night and that ignited an 8-2 run that erased the Lion lead and tied the score at 42-42.
 
The next 11 minutes featured five ties and 11 lead changes. With 2:52 remaining, Mclendon hit a three-pointer that put the Lions back in front, 68-65. Graham finished a pass from Daniel Mondragon with a two-handed dunk to pull the Blue and Gold back within one (68-67), but Gray's unassisted layup reclaimed a three-point (70-67) margin for FMU at the1:20 mark.
 
After an Eagle miss from beyond the arc, Rolle grabbed the rebound and got the ball to Gray, but Carter's quick hands allowed him to strip Gray of the basketball and as he raced to the basket, Carter was fouled, giving the Eagles a chance at two points with the clock stopped. Carter knocked down both free throws with 38 seconds left to make it a one-point game and the Eagles' full-court press allowed Mondragon to dispossess Adrian White. Mondragon's three-point attempt missed the mark and was collected by McClendon but once again, Carter came up with the steal in the back court and called a timeout with 19 seconds left.
 
Coming out of the timeout, the Eagles got the ball into the hands of Carter and again the freshman was fouled in the act of shooting. He drained both attempts from the charity stripe and gave the Eagles a 71-70 edge with 13 seconds left on the clock.
 
Back on offense, the Lions got the ball to their go-to player McClendon and he delivered, knocking down a jumper to put FMU up 72-71. The Eagles had six seconds from that point make something happen, but White was able to get a hand to the Eagles' last shot attempt and Rolle came up with the defensive rebound to seal the win for the Lions.
 
The Eagles go on the road to West Palm Beach on Thursday to take on top-ranked Northwood.