DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - The 18th-ranked Northwood Seahawks grabbed 44 rebounds and recorded 15 second chance points to post a 76-71 upset of No. 3 Embry-Riddle on Wednesday night in the ICI Center. The five-point victory for Northwood (16-5, 7-3) was the first on the Eagles' home floor since 2011 while Embry-Riddle (19-3, 8-2) lost for the second time in three games at home. The Northwood win puts the top four teams in The Sun Conference within one loss of each other as Embry-Riddle (8-2), St. Thomas (8-2), Southeastern (7-3) and Northwood (7-3) battle for the regular season title with eight games left in the conference schedule.
The difference in the game proved to be on the boards as Northwood outrebounded the Eagles 44-23, including 13 offensive rebounds that led to 15 second chance points. Chris Solomon finished with a game-high 27 points for the visitors while Jake Lockhart posted a double-double of 13 points and 10 boards. Northwood was 23-of-26 from the charity stripe while shooting 46-percent from the field and 33-percent from long range.
The Seahawks sprinted out to a 6-0 lead in under two minutes, and went up 10-2 on a Solomon jumper in the paint.
Dalton Barnes hit a three to cut the lead to five at the 17-minute mark, but Solomon answered with the first of his three treys on the night.
Leading 15-10, Solomon connected on another triple before Julian Smith made good on a jumper as the Seahawks took a 20-10 lead with 13:12 remaining in the first period.
DeForest Carter sparked an 8-2 Blue and Gold run with three free throws after being fouled on a three-point attempt. Carter then fed
Reed Ridder for a three-pointer before laying in a fastbreak bucket to bring the Eagles within four at 24-20.
Northwood took a 30-23 lead on a Lockhart basket with five minutes left in the first and the Seahawk big man made his and-one free throw to give NU an eight-point advantage.
The Eagles couldn't seem to get within two possessions over the final five minutes and Solomon hit a pair of free throws with five ticks on the clock before halftime to account for the 38-30 score at the break.
The second half was a tightly-contested battle between the two squads and despite the Eagles' shooting nearly 47-percent from the floor, they were never able to tie the game or take a lead.
A Barnes' jumper with 15:21 left brought ERAU to within 46-41, but Solomon answered again from deep to push the Seahawk lead back to eight at 49-41.
The Eagles'
Cesar Pastrana picked up his fifth foul of the game with more than 14 minutes remaining and Solomon's free throws gave NU a 51-41 cushion.
The Blue and Gold went on a 9-2 run after Pastrana fouled out, getting to within 54-50 on a
Hudson Cadet layup and-one conversion, but the Seahawks scored the next three from the line to restore a seven-point lead with 10 minutes left.
A Carter layup with less than eight minutes remaining brought the crowd to its feet and the home team to within a possession at 59-56, but Ian Umpierre scored two of his eight points with a runner and Fred Mattison followed with a layup on the next Seahawk possession as the NU advantage grew to 63-56.
Northwood increased its lead to 67-57 before the Eagles made a final push, scoring eight of the next 10 points in the contest to bring the game to a 69-65 ledger with 90 seconds left.
Mattison hit a big jump shot with the shot clock running down before Carter connected on a long three to get within 71-68 under 50 seconds.
A turnover by the Seahawks gave Embry-Riddle a chance to cut the lead to one or knot the game with a three, but the Eagles turned the ball over and ERAU was forced to foul the rest of the way.
Solomon hit all four free throws in the final 24 seconds to seal the win for Northwood as the Seahawks won their 10th game in the all-time series.
Carter paced the Eagles with 23 points, five rebounds and three steals while Barnes added 18 points and Ridder contributed 13.
The Eagles will travel to Miami Gardens, Fla. to take on Florida Memorial and try to get back in the win column on Saturday, Feb. 1 at 7 p.m.
