DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - The Embry-Riddle men's basketball team sprinted out to a 25-5 lead in the first 10 minutes of Tuesday's contest against Ave Maria and never looked back while heading to an 87-57 win over the Gyrenes inside the ICI Center. The Eagles (3-0) held AMU (0-6) under 60 points for the sixth straight meeting and dominated the boards (55-36) in their first non-conference action of the 2015-16 season.

"I thought we started the game and made a statement," ERAU Head Coach Steve Ridder said. "And we set such a high standard with our first two games, that this one felt almost like we had to get through it, and that's what we did. At this point we wanted to be 3-0 and all of our guys got some playing time tonight, and that was one of our objectives."

Reed Ridder, who led all scorers with 19 points for the second consecutive game, gave ERAU a lift in the first half, scoring 13 points on a perfect 4-for-4 attack from the field and a 3-for-4 effort from the charity stripe as Embry-Riddle took a 42-30 advantage into the halftime break.

It was actually the Gyrenes who scored first, going up 2-0 on a Martez Harris jumper, but the hosts reeled off 18 consecutive points to jump out to an 18-2 lead as Dalton Barnes, Danie Kiesling and Reed Ridder combined for 16 of those points.

Ognjen Miljkovic scored five straight for the Eagles before Harris stopped the bleeding with a free throw to cut the lead to 23-5, and that sparked a little bit of a Gyrene run as the visitors got to within six at 32-26 when Exor Torres made three free throws after being fouled on a three-point attempt.

Embry-Riddle closed the half on a 10-4 run, including a Ridder three and two free more free throws as ERAU took a 12-point cushion into the break. The Blue and Gold shot 52 percent in the first half while holding Ave Maria to just 30 percent.

Harris hit a triple for AMU to open the second half, but the home team answered with a Miljkovic layup and a Kiesling three and the teams played even for the first five minutes.

Leading 54-42 at the 14-minute mark, Embry-Riddle put the game out of reach with a 22-9 run, sparked by Dillon Graham and the Eagle guards, and Luka Majstorovic scored his first collegiate points with a layup at the 5:54 mark, off a nice feed from Bradley Mapes, and the Eagles went up 76-51 a few seconds later when Majstorovic made a pair of free throws.

The final five minutes featured both teams' benches with Brian Johnson and Skyler Hogan pacing the Eagles as they increased the ERAU lead to its largest of the night at 83-55 before Hogan accounted for the final score with six seconds left on a fastbreak layup.

Ridder's 19 points led the way, while Miljkovic finished with 15 points and eight rebounds and Barnes scored 13 points with three assists. Graham scored nine points and grabbed six boards with six assists and Mapes grabbed a career-high 12 rebounds, including eight offensive boards, with five assists.

"Brad (Mapes) did a great job for us tonight," Ridder said. "He had five assists with no turnovers. He's really playing his role well and we know he can be a great offensive rebounder, and he showed that tonight."

The Eagles will be back in action on Friday at 4 p.m. in the ICI Center as they host Puerto Rico-Mayaguez.