ERAU Takes Down Top-Ranked Northwood, 78-72
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The Embry-Riddle men’s basketball team notched its biggest win so far this season with a 78-72 upset of No. 1 Northwood in Sun Conference action at the ICI Center. The win improved the Eagles’ record to 12-7 overall and 3-2 in league play and snapped a 15-game winning streak for the Seahawks (16-2, 4-1) who have been ranked No. 1 in the NAIA national ratings for the last three polls.
Three-pointers were the story of the first half for the Eagles who were a blistering 10-of-12 (83.3 percent) from beyond the arc in the first 20 minutes of play. The Seahawks tied the score at 9-9 with 16:08 left in the half, but the Northwood defense was unable to contain the Eagles’ perimeter shooting and the Blue and Gold used the long-range shot to open up a 10-point and extended the advantage to 13 points (47-34) at the intermission.
Coming out of the break, the Eagles’ offense appeared to cool off, while Northwood seemed to be heating up. The first six and a half minutes of the second stanza saw the Eagles make just one of 11 field goals, while Masse Doumbe scored 10 points to pull the Seahawks within three (54-51) with 13:18 remaining.
At the 12:57 mark, Daniel Mondragon drained a long range shot and that basket sparked an 11-0 run that built the Eagle lead to 65-51 with 10:46 left to play. Once again, the Seahawks looked to their go-to player, Dunn, and the senior responded by scoring seven of the next 11 Northwood points to cut the ERAU lead to six (68-62). After grabbing the defensive rebound on an Eagle miss, Patrick Horstmann was fouled and converted both free throw attempts to make the score 68-64. Two more free throws by Doumbe on the next Northwood possession made it a two-point game with 3:09 left to play.
The Eagles managed to increase the margin to six (74-68), but once again Dunn had an answer with four free throws and an unassisted dunk to make the score 74-72 with 43 seconds showing on the clock.
The Eagles missed the front end of a one-on-one on the their possession and Horstmann grabbed the rebound for Northwood, but the Seahawks turned the ball over and BlakeTouchard, who was fouled on his way to the basket, knocked down both free throws for a four-point (76-74) Eagle advantage with 20 seconds left.
The Seahawks got the ball into Dunn’s hands on the next possession, but his three-point attempt bounced off the rim and was corralled by Carter who was immediately fouled with 13 seconds remaining. After Carter hit both of his free throws, the Seahawks raced down the floor and looked for the long-range shot once again, but it too missed the mark and the rebound was pulled down by Carter who held onto the ball to run out the clock and secure the Eagle win.
Carter and Mondragon tallied 14 points each to top the Eagles’ scoring chart, while Jason Powell added 12 points and Justin Bozzelli contributed 11 points apiece. Ray Graham led the Eagles on the boards with 10 rebounds, with Carter adding six and Mondragon and Powell collecting five rebounds each.
As a team, the Eagles were 47.4 percent (27-57) from the field and 60.9 percent (14-of-23) from behind the three-point line. Embry-Riddle out-rebounded the Seahawks 40-32 and got great production from its bench which outscored the Northwood reserves 25-5.
Dunn was the game’s high scorer with 35 points, including a 9-for-9 performance from the free throw line. Doumbe totaled 18 points, eight rebounds and four blocks in the Northwood effort.