DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - For just the second time in three seasons, the Embry-Riddle men's basketball team reached triple-digits on the scoreboard on Tuesday evening, downing the visiting Falcons of Florida College, 101-74. The Eagles (2-0) got a game-high 23 points from sophomore
Dalton Barnes and for the second consecutive game forced 20+ turnovers en route to the blowout win. Florida College (2-6) fell to 0-17 all-time against the Blue and Gold.
Embry-Riddle celebrated Veterans Day by honoring Captain Tom MacDougall prior to the contest and honored all veterans and active service members at halftime.
The Eagles raced out to a 55-38 advantage at the break and the visitors never got within 15 in the second half. Embry-Riddle scored 56 of its 101 points in the paint, and 34 points off of turnovers while racking up 32 assists, six shy of the single-game record 38, set against Lyndon State on Nov. 5, 2004.
Daniel Kiesling opened the scoring with a jumper off a
DeForest Carter pass and
Cesar Pastrana connected on his first trey since the 2012-13 season to put the Eagles up 5-0 before Dustin Dunham scored the first bucket for the Falcons at the 17:50 mark.
ERAU led by single-digits for the next four minutes, but a Barnes fastbreak layup and Carter free throw with just over 13 minutes left in the half put the home team up 21-11.
An 11-3 Embry-Riddle run midway through the period pushed the Eagles in front 39-21, with nine of the 11 Eagle points coming via triples from
Reed Ridder,
Joseph Gonzalez and Barnes.
Brian Johnson's first of two treys at the 5:24 mark gave ERAU a 45-28 advantage and both teams would score 10 points the rest of the half as Embry-Riddle took the 17-point cushion into the break. Gonzalez led all scorers at the half with 14, while Barnes had 11 and both Pastrana and Carter added seven each.
The second half proved to be similar to the first as both teams continued to shoot the ball well and when Kiesling and Ridder combined for eight quick points to give ERAU a 23-point lead at 67-44, the Falcons went to Jamison McMichael who scored four straight points to trim the deficit to 67-48.
Barnes connected on a pair of free throws with 4:51 left to give the Eagles their largest lead of the night up to that point at 90-61 and Johnson's second long range conversion of the evening ballooned the cushion to 30 points at 95-65.
Embry-Riddle finished the night at 57 percent from the floor (39-for-68), including nine three-pointers. Joining Barnes in double-figures were Pastrana with 17 and Gonzalez with 14. Carter registered seven assists and five steals, while Barnes had six assists and three steals. Pastrana, Kiesling and Johnson each had six boards to lead the hosts.
McMichael had 20 points for the Falcons who shot 46 percent from the floor and were 7-for-17 beyond the arc.
Embry-Riddle travels to Boston, Mass. for a pair of games this weekend, including Friday at 7 p.m. against the University of Maine at Fort Kent and Saturday at 2 p.m. versus Fisher College.
