DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - The Embry-Riddle men's basketball team won its 14th game of the 2015-16 season on Wednesday, defeating visiting Nova Southeastern, 60-57 in the ICI Center. In so doing, the Eagles (14-9) secured a winning season in their first foray into NCAA Division II, an impressive feat not lost on Head Coach Steve Ridder.

"Is it not fitting that a game like this, a game that truly resembles our program's blue collar mentality, results in a win that secures a winning season?" Ridder said. "Tonight our guys worked their tail ends off. It was not pretty against NSU's zone defense. They're an extremely well-coached team and they showed that tonight."

The Eagles rallied from a 10-point deficit in the second half, closing the game on a 20-7 run to get some revenge on the Sharks (10-14) after NSU beat the Eagles earlier in the year in Ft. Lauderdale.

The Blue and Gold didn't shoot the ball particularly well, managing just 31 percent from the field and just 20 percent (7-for-35) from long range, but the Eagles outrebounded the visitors by 14 (47-33), including 23 offensive boards that led to 12 second-chance points. Embry-Riddle also forced 19 Shark turnovers, converting those into 23 points.

Trailing 50-40 at the 12:26 mark after a Chris Page jumper, the Eagles got a spark after a scuffle in front of the home bench. Dalton Barnes was on a mission, scoring the next six Eagle points to pull ERAU to within 50-46 on a free throw at the 10:31 mark. After Harrison Goodrick made a pair of free throws on the other end, Skyler Hogan converted a jumper before Reed Ridder buried a three-pointer as the Eagles cut the Shark lead to 53-51.

A steal from Ognjen Miljkovic led to a fastbreak layup from Hogan, tying the game at 53-53 before Barnes went 1-for-2 from the charity stripe for a one-point Eagle cushion.

Miljkovic made just his second field goal of the night on the next Eagle possession, and was fouled in the process, pushing ERAU's advantage to 57-53 after converting the old fashioned three-point play.

Page made a driving layup for NSU with 3:57 to go, and the Eagles came up empty on their next possession, leading to a Dwayne Gibson jumper that knotted things at 57-57.

Barnes was fouled with 2:07 left, making one of his two free throws for a 58-57 lead before both teams traded four turnovers over the next minute of action. Page missed a jumper with 62 seconds left and the Eagles grabbed the rebound and called timeout.

Out of the timeout, the Eagles used nearly all of the shot clock before Daniel Kiesling got the ball under the hoop, ducking in and making good on a layup for a 60-57 Eagle advantage.

Nova Southeastern called two timeouts on their final possession, getting a Page three-point attempt with 10 seconds left, and after a long rebound was grabbed by Hogan, Page intercepted Hogan's pass, forcing an off-balance three at the buzzer that was was no good as ERAU celebrated the three-point win.

"I cannot say enough about our competetive fire down the stretch," Ridder said. "I also can't say enough about Daniel Kiesling. He led tonight despite not making shots, taking two charges and ultimately making the huge layup at the end of the game that put us up three."

The game started all ERAU as the home team went up 6-0 quickly before NSU came back to cut the lead to 10-9 on a Page jumper in the paint. The Sharks took their first lead of the contest on a Page three at the 10:26 mark of the first, ultimately taking a 34-29 lead into the break.

Page, who scored 20 points in the first half, was held to just four in the second, finishing with four steals as well. Goodrick had a double-double with 15 points and 13 rebounds, also dishing out three assists. As a team, the Sharks shot 45 percent from the field and 25 percent from three.

Barnes scored 19 points with eight rebounds, four assists and four steals, while Ridder finished with 16 points and three assists and three steals. Miljkovic scored 10 points with nine boards while Kiesling grabbed 10 rebounds and added seven points.

The Eagles travel to defending NCAA II national champion Florida Southern on Saturday for a 7:30 p.m. tip in Lakeland.