DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - The Embry-Riddle men's basketball team improved to 15-0 overall and 3-0 in Sun Conference play on Saturday evening, holding off visiting Ave Maria, 64-54 in the ICI Center. The Eagles never trailed in the contest, but saw a lead of 18 dwindle to just two late in the second half before Dalton Barnes righted the ship for the Blue and Gold, scoring 12 of his game-high 21 points in the second half as ERAU ended the night on a 15-7 run to put the game away. The Gyrenes (7-8, 0-4) outscored the Eagles by six in the second period, but couldn't find the answer for Barnes who scored eight points in the final 8:16 for Embry-Riddle.

Embry-Riddle stands as the only unbeaten team in league play at 3-0 and will travel to St. Thomas (7-6, 2-2) on Wednesday, Jan. 14 for a 7 p.m. contest against the Bobcats. STU is coming off an upset win over No. 13 Northwood in Miami Gardens.

The opening 10 minutes of the game was all Embry-Riddle as the hosts pulled out to a 29-11 lead on a Joseph Gonzalez three with 10:47 on the clock. ERAU used a stifling defensive press to force nine turnovers in the game's first 10 minutes. Daniel Kiesling got things started for the Eagles with a trey, followed by a steal and breakaway dunk by DeForest Carter and another steal and layup, this time from Reed Ridder as the Eagles went up 7-0.

Carter scored four straight before feeding Ridder for a triple at the 13:22 mark and Embry-Riddle enjoyed a 17-6 advantage before Brandon Barnes hit a jumper from long range that was matched by Kiesling on the other end of the floor.

ERAU's Barnes hit back-to-back threes on two straight Eagle possessions as the Blue and Gold went 6-for-10 from long range in the early going.

The two teams played even basketball for the remainder of the period and the Eagles took a 38-22 cushion into halftime.

Ave Maria scored the first four points of the second half to trim the deficit to 13 on a Jelani Bonner free throw, but the Eagles went back up by 17 when Carter found Hudson Cadet underneath the hoop for a dunk with just over 17 minutes left in the period.

Following a Dalton Barnes' fastbreak layup for a 47-31 Eagle advantage, the Gyrenes started chipping away at the ERAU lead, scoring seven straight before Cadet stopped the bleeding with a tip in off a Barnes missed jumper.

Trailing by 11 (49-38) with 11:46 left, AMU went on a 9-0 run, capped by a Bonner three-point play at the 8:28 mark as the Gyrenes found themselves only down by two at 49-47.

The Eagles looked to the sophomore from Port Orange, Fla. over the next several possessions, getting two straight layups from Barnes followed by a pair of free throws from Cesar Pastrana to push the lead back to six at 55-49.

A defensive stop led to a Carter layup with six minutes on the clock and Jason Powell followed with a clutch triple as 4:41 flashed on the scoreboard, giving the Blue and Gold a 60-51 lead.

Leading by eight, the Eagles' defense held Ave Maria scoreless over the final two minutes of the contest and Barnes' jumper with 46 seconds left sealed the win for Embry-Riddle.

The Eagles shot 50 percent from the floor, but just 29 percent from three, at one point missing 11 straight shots from three. Barnes' 21 came on 9-for-14 shooting from the field while he added five rebounds and five assists for ERAU. Carter scored 10 points and dished out eight assists while recording six steals and Kiesling chipped in eight points, five rebounds, two assists and a pair of steals.

Bonner and Brandon Barnes finished with 13 points each for AMU, as the team finished 42.2 percent from the floor.

The Eagles now boast the second-longest winning streak in program history at 15 straight.