NORTH MIAMI, Fla. - Tied at 41-41 with 11 minutes left in the 2nd half, the NAIA II No. 1 Embry-Riddle Eagles ended their game on the road against Johnson & Wales on a 26-18 run to earn their 16th win of the 2013-14 season and stay perfect in Sun Conference play at 5-0. The Eagles (16-1, 5-0) never trailed in the final 11 minutes, coming away with a 67-59 win against the Wildcats (10-6, 2-3).
ERAU put four players in double figures, paced by freshman
Dalton Barnes who scored 19 points on 7-for-8 shooting from the field while going 5-for-6 at the charity stripe. The Eagles, who sit alone atop the league standings after St. Thomas lost earlier on Saturday, shot 47-percent from the floor, despite shooting just 1-for-10 from beyond the arc, combining with a 24-for-30 effort at the free throw line for the victory.
The Eagles went up 4-0 early before a 3-pointer from Myles Smith cut the Eagle lead to 4-3. Neither team could create separation in the first few minutes and back-to-back treys from the Wildcats put them up 14-10 with 10:44 left in the half.
ERAU went up 17-16 on a jumper from
Rico Saldana, capping a quick 5-0 spurt, and over the next six minutes the lead changed times six times. A dunk from
Hudson Cadet put the visitors up by three at 29-26 and ERAU pushed its lead to five on a
DeForest Carter jumper to give the Eagles a 33-28 cushion with 46 seconds left. However, the home team ended the period on a 5-0 run to knot things up before the half, getting a triple and two free throws from Smith to account for the run.
JWU recorded five three-pointers in the first half and scored seven second chance points in the opening period while the Eagles went 13-for-15 from the free throw line.
Cesar Pastrana opened the second half scoring with a free throw, but the Wildcats kept pace with ERAU and when Smith hit a trey at the 14:36 mark, Johnson & Wales took a 41-40 lead.
Cadet converted a pair from the free throw line before Barnes made good on a tip-in on the next ERAU possession and
Reed Ridder's fastbreak layup off a Carter steal had the Eagles up 46-41 with just over 10 minutes on the clock.
Leading by five at 50-45, the Blue and Gold got its only three-pointer of the game from
Jason Powell who buried a trey from the corner with 5:41 left in the game, stretching the Eagle lead to eight. JWU cut the lead to three when Quentin Tate made a layup with four minutes left, but Barnes scored the next four points of the contest to put the Eagles back up by three possessions, 59-52.
The Wildcats were forced to foul over the final minute and the Eagles went 8-for-10 from the line to secure their sixth straight win.
Barnes finished with 19 points, four rebounds, three assists and three steals, Carter chipped in 13 points, six boards, five assists and three steals and Powell and Pastrana both reached double digit point totals at 12 and 11 respectively.
Embry-Riddle did not allow a second chance point in the second half and dominated in the paint, owning a 38-14 advantage in points in the lane.
Smith led the Wildcats with 26 points while Tate scored 11 for Johnson & Wales.
The Eagles return home to host Southeastern on Wednesday, Jan. 15 at 7 p.m. in the ICI Center.
