MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. - The 19th-ranked Embry-Riddle men's basketball team battled back from 16 points down in the first half on the road against 11th-ranked St. Thomas, tying the game in the waning moments with a three-ball from Reed Ridder, but a foul call with 1.2 seconds left led to two made free throws from St. Thomas' Kevin Hincapie that denied ERAU's upset bid. The Eagles (21-6, 10-5) got a half-court heave from Ridder at the buzzer, but the sophomore's attempt fell just short as St. Thomas (20-5, 13-2) solidified its hold on the top spot in The Sun Conference.

DeForest Carter found Ridder in the corner for a trey with 24.9 seconds left that the Ormond Beach, Fla. native buried to knot the game at 58-58, and although the Bobcats missed their first two attempts to win the game, Rico Saldana was called for a questionable foul on Hincapie's desperation attempt and the senior converted both from the charity stripe for the victory.

The first half could not have started worse for the visitors as St. Thomas sprinted out to a 12-2 advantage early on a Floyd Battle fastbreak layup. Ridder's first three of the night with 14:48 left cut the lead to 12-5, but the Bobcats kept pounding the ball inside and eventually went up by 16 at 30-14 with 4:04 left in the half.

STU scored 28 of its 30 first half points in the paint, with all but a pair of free throws coming inside, but ERAU finished the period on an 11-0 run, sparked by a Dalton Barnes and-one layup. Daniel Kiesling, Jason Powell and Hudson Cadet all converted layups in the final 80 seconds as the Eagles brought the game within reach at the break, 30-25.

The momentum stayed with the visitors coming out of the half as the Eagles cut the lead to 30-29 after layups from Ridder and Barnes off of Carter passes.

St. Thomas answered to go back up by five and held a slim lead for the first several minutes of the second period, but after a Powell layup made the score 36-35 in favor of STU, the Eagles took their first lead of the night on a Cesar Pastrana layup with 14:16 on the clock.

Battle and the Bobcats rallied and the guard's three-pointer with less than 10 minutes left gave the hosts a 44-39 cushion, and the lead increased to 48-39 a few moments later on a Battle dunk.

Carter hit a triple to stop the bleeding, but STU went up further when Demonte' Simpson hit a free throw for a 51-42 STU lead.

Trailing 52-43, the Blue and Gold started its comeback, getting a three from Carter and a tip-in from Saldana to get back within four at 52-48 and a Ridder three a few possessions later cut the Bobcat advantage to 55-52 with 2:43 left.

A defensive stop led to a Barnes game-tying layup with 1:15 left, but a put-back from Lorel Beckford, followed by a free throw from Battle put the home team back up 58-55 before Ridder tied the contest with his final three of the night and setup the eventual final possession for St. Thomas.

Embry-Riddle was paced by Ridder and Carter with 11 points each while Barnes and Powell both registered 10 for the Eagles. Carter registered nine assists, four steals and two blocks while Powell and Saldana both pulled down seven boards.

The Eagles turned the ball over 20 times, leading to 25 points for STU and the Bobcats scored 44 of their 60 points in the paint.

ERAU returns home to Daytona Beach to host Webber International on Saturday, Feb. 15 at 7 p.m.