DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - The Embry-Riddle men's basketball team capped off a historic evening on Wednesday with a 96-82 victory over the visiting Palm Beach Atlantic Sailfish inside the ICI Center. Competing for the very first time as an NCAA II team, the Eagles (1-0) followed the Embry-Riddle women's basketball squad's 61-56 overtime win over fellow Sunshine State Conference provisional member PBA with an offensive show of force, sparked by the debut of Dillon Graham who scored 26 points and grabbed 10 rebounds as Palm Beach Atlantic (1-1) saw a two-point edge right after the half dissapear behind seven second-period threes for the Blue and Gold.

"I'm so pleased with tonight's win," ERAU Head Coach Steve Ridder said. "I thought we made a statement with this game and we showed how many weapons we can have on any given night. We've talked before about Dillon's ability to play the three-spot, bringing the offense, the defense, creating chances, but when he rebounds the ball the way he did tonight, he can be really special."

Graham, who transfered to Embry-Riddle last season from the University of Florida, went 8-for-11 from the floor, including a 5-for-7 clip from deep, and was 5-for-5 from the charity stripe to rack up his 26 points, 19 of which came in the second half.

The first half was a back-and-forth battle between the Sailfish and Eagles, starting with the Blue and Gold's first made basket of the NCAA II era, a three-pointer from Dalton Barnes on the game's first shot. Daniel Kiesling put the hosts up 6-2 two minutes later, but PBA responded with a 7-0 run, capped by Milos Kostic's trey to push the Sailfish in front, 9-6.

Graham's first triple of the night came at the 10:39 mark, giving Embry-Riddle a 23-18 cushion, but again PBA answered with a run, reeling off eight straight points before Reed Ridder stopped the bleeding with a three of his own, knotting the score at 26-26.

Palm Beach Atlantic took its biggest lead of the night on a Bakar Warthen fastbreak layup with just over five minutes left in the half as PBA enjoyed a 36-29 advantage, but ERAU closed the period on a 13-5 run to take a 42-41 lead into the break.

ERAU shot 45 percent from the field in the opening period, including an 8-for-17 effort from long range, but faced some foul trouble as PBA shot 16 free throws on 13 Eagle fouls, with six ERAU players picking up at least two.

Derek Yepes got the scoring started in the second half with a three that gave the Sailfish their final lead of the contest at 44-42 as it was quickly erased on a Graham three and a Kiesling put-back for a quick 5-0 Eagle run.

Joseph Gonzalez's trey at the 15:24 mark put the home team up 58-53, and Graham and Ridder followed their teammates' make from distance with two more before Graham got a nice feed on a fastbreak from Ridder a few moments later, making the basket and getting fouled en route to an old fashioned three-point play and a 67-57 lead.

Barnes found Gonzalez for a dunk with just under 12 minutes to go before Bradley Mapes made a highlight reel worthy put-back dunk less than a mintue later as ERAU enjoyed a 72-57 advantage.

Embry-Riddle stayed in front by double-digits until under three minutes remaining, due in large part to Graham and fellow NCAA I transfer Ognjen Miljkovic, as the pair scored 11 of the team's 17 points during that span.

Shavanno Cooper got PBA within seven with a free throw to make it 89-82 with 2:23 left, but that would be the final point scored by the Sailfish as Barnes scored five straight points before Graham made a pair of free throws to account for his 25th and 26th points of the night.

"We've got several things to work on going forward, PBA exploited some of those weaknesses tonight, but overall I liked the game we played," Ridder said. "Joe (Gonzalez) stepped up for us, as did Brad (Mapes) off the bench, and even though OG (Miljkovic) didn't have his best game, he was still conscientious about rebounding and was really good in traffic.

In addition to his 26 points and 10 boards, Graham dished out five assists and tallied three steals for the Blue and Gold. Miljkovic also finished with a double-double of 19 points and 10 rebounds, while Barnes added 15 points, six rebounds, six steals and four assists. Kiesling (11), Ridder (10) and Gonzalez (10) also scored in double-figures for the Eagles while Skyler Hogan scored the first two points of his collegiate career as both he Luka Majstorovic saw action as true freshmen.

Embry-Riddle shot 52 percent for the game, 52 percent from long range and was 15-for-18 from the free throw line. Palm Beach Atlantic finished at 43 percent from the floor, including a 33 percent clip from three and went 19-for-31 at the charity stripe. Bakari Warthen paced four Sailfish players in double-figures with 19 points.

ERAU owned the rebounding battle, 44-32, and both teams struggled turning the ball over a combined 44 times.

The Eagles travel to Melbourne on Saturday to take on SSC member Florida Tech at 3:30 p.m. at the Charles & Ruth Clemente Center.

"We're going to have our hands full on Saturday on the road against Florida Tech," Ridder said. "They have a great team that is well coached and that plays extremely well at home. We will have to be ready for a battle if we want to come out of there with a win."