LAKELAND, Fla. – The sixth-ranked Embry-Riddle men's basketball team (21-5, 10-4) suffered its fourth conference loss of the season at the hands of No. 25 Southeastern (20-4) on the road on Saturday. The Fire (20-4), led by 34 points from Dwayne Johnson, topped the Eagles 80-73 to secure their hold on second place in The Sun Conference standings with an 11-3 record in league play.

The Eagles jumped out to an early 7-0 lead on a jumper by Rico Saldana, a long-range shot by DeForest Carter, and a pair of free throws by Reed Ridder. The Fire closed the gap to 7-6, but a Saldana free throw at the 14:51 mark keyed a 10-0 Eagle run over the next four minutes.

Southeastern tried to close the gap again in the final 10 minutes of the frame but the Eagles, led by Cesar Pastrana's 16 first-half points, swelled the lead to as many as 12 points and the visitors took a nine-point lead into the break.

After both teams traded baskets to open the second half, Brandon Moore drilled a three and Dana Thomas hit a jumper to cut the ERAU lead to three points (40-37) with 16:46 remaining in the contest. The Eagles withstood the barrage and steadily moved back up by 10 points, punctuated by a Jason Powell layup at the 12:13 mark.

With the Fire trailing 49-42, Johnson knocked down his second jumper of the half and that marked the start of his takeover of the Southeastern offense. The senior scored on five of the next eight Fire possessions to make it a two-point game (59-57), and at the 6:19 mark, Jordan Talley scored his only points of the half to register the first tie (59-59) of the night.

The home team got its first lead of the contest on Johnson's third long-range basket of the game, but Carter temporarily quieted the raucous Southeastern crown with a layup to put the Blue and Gold back on top, 65-64.

On the next trip down the court, Johnson scored three the old-fashioned way to continue the see-saw battle for the lead. Pastrana turned the ball over on the next Eagle possession, which gave the Fire a chance to add to their lead, but Johnson returned the favor and that led to Powell's only trey of the evening, which made the score 68-67 in the Eagles' favor with 3:55 left to play.

Over the next minute and a half, both teams combined for six turnovers and denied each other with a blocked shot apiece to keep the score at 68-67. Moore was able to break the drought with an unassisted layup, but Pastrana came right back with a jumper for the one-point (70-69) Eagle lead with 1:09 remaining.

At the 1:01 mark, Johnson drained another three and a Carter turnover followed by a Dalton Barnes foul allowed Thomas to add two more to the Fire tally from the free throw line with 48 seconds showing on the clock.

Trailing by four, the Eagles fell victim to the turnover once again and Jake Hodges made it a three-possession (75-70) game by making one of two free throws with 34 seconds left.

With eight seconds remaining, Carter was able to cut the lead to three (76-73), converting on all three free throws after being fouled in the act of shooting a trey. The Eagles elected to foul on the next two possessions, but the Fire made good on all four of their free throws in the last seven seconds to secure the win.

Pastrana finished with a season-high 25 points on 11-of-15 shooting from the field and a perfect 3-for-3 from the charity stripe. Barnes added 12 points and six assists, while Carter finished with 11 points and eight rebounds in the Eagle effort.

The Eagles will be back on the road again on Wednesday when they travel to Miami Gardens for a 7 p.m. tipoff against St. Thomas.