ANAHEIM, California - The Embry-Riddle men's basketball team shrugged off a sluggish start and a five-point halftime deficit while leaning on seniors Nashad Mackey and Alston Jones en route to a 79-70 win over Azusa Pacific on Saturday afternoon at the D2CCA TipOff Classic. The Eagles (2-0) outscored the Cougars (0-2) by 14 in the second half (51-37), and a key 9-0 Embry-Riddle run late in the contest pushed the Eagles to their second straight victory to open the 2018-19 season.

Mackey notched his second double-double of the young season with a game-high 21 points and 11 rebounds to go with three steals, while Jones finished with 20 points, four rebounds and four assists. For Jones, who was forced to miss much of the season opener on Friday due to foul trouble, the bulk of his scoring came in the second half when the Eagles needed it most, with Jones coming up with 14 points and three of his assists in the closing period.

The first half proved to be tough going for the Embry-Riddle offense as Azusa Pacific's 2-3 zone made good looks hard to come by. APU led 11-4 after three minutes after Darien McClain connected on a long three-pointer, and a few minutes later the Cougars extended the lead to 13-4 before Mackey got fouled in the act of shooting following a big offensive rebound by Nick Heard that kept an Eagle possession alive. Mackey made both free throws to stop the APU run, but ERAU still struggled on the offensive end as they found themselves down 18-6 with 10:28 to play.

Down a dozen, the Eagles went to Mackey who came through with a three-point play on an and-one, and Jones added a fastbreak layup on the next ERAU possession to trim the deficit to 18-11.

A mini 5-0 Eagle run around the seven-minute mark brought ERAU to within five at 23-18 on a Tylin Lockett-Fuller three, but the Blue and Gold couldn't get any closer than that. Heard came through with another big offensive rebound in the waning seconds, converting on the put-back to make it a five-point game at the break, 33-28 in favor of Azusa Pacific.

Embry-Riddle made just 10-of-30 from the floor and was just 1-for-5 from deep in the first half, but Head Coach Steve Ridder and his staff made the right adjustments in the lockerroom as the Eagles came out and immediately went on a 5-0 run to tie the game on an Elijah Jenkins trey at the 19-minute mark.

Luka Majstorovic gave the Eagles their first lead of the game a few moments later with a layup and ERAU would never trail again, despite the Cougars tying the game several times over the next few minutes.

Tied at 44-44, Lockett-Fuller made a driving layup and got fouled on the fastbreak to give the Eagles the lead for good as he made the free throw for a 47-44 cushion. After an APU bucket, Majstorovic got a great pass from Jones and finished to push the lead back to three and following an APU miss, Majstorovic again made good from close range as ERAU enjoyed a 51-46 lead with 12 minutes to play.

Back-to-back three's from Jones and Cj Henagan around the 10-minute mark gave the Eagles their biggest lead of the night up to that point (57-50), but the Cougars wouldn't go away, chipping away and getting to within one at 57-56 with 6:29 to play. However, Mackey nailed a jumper in the paint to give ERAU a little breathing room, and a missed three was corralled by Majstorovic and Lockett-Fuller got fouled on the ensuing possession, making both free throws to push the lead back to five at 61-56.

After an Azusa Pacific layup made it 61-58 at the 4:27 mark, a technical foul on the APU bench allowed Mackey to shoot and make a pair of free throws and then Mackey made it a 4-0 run when he tipped-in an Eagle miss for a 65-58 lead with just over four minutes left.

A big swing happened on the next possession when APU missed a three on one end and Jones buried one on the other to grow the Eagle lead to double-digits, 68-58 and ERAU never looked back, closing out their second straight PacWest Conference contender with free throws down the stretch.

"We established the second half tempo, and that was key for us," Ridder said. "I thought our inside guys made a statement and I'm just really excited about how we've come out and played these first two games. I think we've elevated the reputation of our program with these first two wins."

For the game, the Eagles held Azusa Pacific to just 26 percent from three, including a 1-for-11 effort in the second half.

Majstorovic joined Mackey and Jones in double-figures with 14 points to go along with seven boards, and Lockett-Fuller chipped in 10 points and three rebounds. Henagan finished with seven points and three boards, while fellow freshman Chris Murray pulled down six rebounds off the bench. 

Embry-Riddle will look to make it a 3-for-3 weekend when they wrap up the D2CCA TipOff Classic against Lindenwood (Mo.) at 9 a.m. (PT)/12 p.m. (ET) on Sunday.