DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - The Embry-Riddle Eagles opened up the 2013 calendar year with a 72-68 win over Ashford (Iowa) in the Bahama House Classic on Wednesday night in the ICI Center. The fourth-ranked Eagles held a 12-point halftime lead and were able to withstand a furious Ashford comeback in the second half to emerge with their 12th consecutive victory. The Eagles (14-1) will take on Voorhees (S.C.) Thursday night in the championship game of the Bahama House Classic at 7 p.m. The Saints (11-5) will meet up with Tennessee Wesleyan in the consolation contest at 5 p.m.
Embry-Riddle held a slim lead for the first five minutes of action until a layup from DeAndre Lowery put his team ahead 9-8 at the 13:39 mark of the first half.
The Eagles went on a quick 6-0 spurt to take a five-point lead on a layup from
DeForest Carter, but back-to-back buckets by the visitors cut the Eagle lead to 14-13 at the 10:39 mark.
Embry-Riddle was unable to pull away from the Saints until the Eagles scored eight straight points in 30 seconds with five mintues remaining, highlighted by a
Billy Serle trey and three free throws by
Jason Powell after he was fouled on a three-point attempt.
Jeremiah Applin, playing in his first game in over three weeks, buried his first three-point attempt with 2:57 remaining in the period to grow the Blue and Gold lead to 13 at 41-28 and the Eagles would hold a 12-point advantage heading into the break.
Embry-Riddle shot 63 percent in the first half (17-for-27) and 50 percent from downtown (3-for-6), led by Powell's 12 points. The Eagles held the Saints to just over 37 percent from the floor in the first (12-for-32) and recorded six blocks in the opening period.
The second half proved to be a much different story as the Saints' defense forced the Eagles into 11 turnovers while Ashford shot 40 percent from the field and better than 45 percent from behind the arc.
Two threes from Lowery and Joseph Lightfoot cut the Eagle advantage to seven with just under 15 minutes left, but Powell answered with a trey of his own to push the lead back to double-digits.
Another pair of Saint three-pointers trimmed the deficit to 55-51 with 12:56 left and the Eagles would go nearly 13 minutes without making a field goal as the Saints were able to tie the game at 60-60 on a Lowery trey with eight minutes left.
Embry-Riddle managed to hit 10 free throws between field goals and when
Rico Saldana finally broke the drought with a layup at the 1:57 mark, the Eagle lead was five at 67-62.
A layup from
Cesar Pastrana pushed the ERAU advantage to seven before Ashford answered with a basket from Vesteinn Sveinsson with 62 seconds left to bring the score to 69-64 in favor of the Eagles.
Saldana blocked a Lowery jumper with 29 seconds on the clock and when Lightfoot missed a layup with 26 ticks remaining the Eagles were able to hit three free throws in the final 19 seconds to seal the victory.
Powell paced the Eagles with a career-high 19 points, including a 9-for-11 night from the charity stripe. The sophomore also grabbed four rebounds for the Blue and Gold. Pastrana had 16 points and eight rebounds while Saldana finished with 14 points and five boards. The Eagles collected 19 assists on the night, led by
DeForest Carter's seven.
The Eagles had a large advantage at the free throw line, hitting on 22 of their 34 attempts while the Saints went 6-of-11 from the charity stripe.
Lowery had 21 points to lead all scorers while also dishing out seven assists and collecting six steals for the Saints.
The Eagles will meet up with Voorhees tomorrow at 7 p.m. after the Tigers came away with an 83-65 win over Tennessee Wesleyan in Wednesday's early game.
