by by Ryan Mosher | @ryan_mosher | ERU Athletics
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The NAIA No. 13 Embry-Riddle Eagles led by as many as six late in the first half against NCAA I Florida State before the Seminoles pulled away for a 49-40 lead at the break en route to a 95-73 exhibition victory at the newly-renovated Donald L. Tucker Center on Monday evening.
The Eagles, playing their first NCAA I opponent since taking on the Florida Gators in the fall of 2005, held four leads in the opening period, including a six-point cushion with 7:04 left in the frame before Florida State ended the half on a 22-7 run to take a nine-point advantage into the break.
ERAU will return to Daytona Beach to host Sterling (Kan.) on Saturday, Nov. 8 at 7 p.m. in the ICI Center for the Eagles’ regular season opener.
DeForest Carter scored 12 of his team-leading 16 points in the second half, finishing the night 6-for-8 from the field and 2-for-2 from the charity stripe to go along with five rebounds, a game-high nine assists and game-high four steals.
Daniel Kiesling answered a FSU three-pointer with a triple of his own to open the ERAU scoring, knotting the game at 3-3 less than a minute into the contest, and a minute later, the junior forward doubled the Eagle point total with his second trey as ERAU enjoyed its first lead of the night at 6-5.
Reed Ridder hit the third Eagle three of the game at the 16:58 mark to again tie the score before FSU used a mini-run to go up four at 15-11.
Newcomer Joseph Gonzalez scored four consecutive points to again bring the visitors level at 15-15 and a Ridder trey a few moments later gave Embry-Riddle an 18-17 advantage.
Back-to-back triples from Jason Powell and Gonzalez put the Eagles up 26-21, before All-American candidate Aaron Thomas brought the ‘Noles within a point at 26-25.
ERAU ballooned its lead to six on a Kiesling three (33-27), but a 7-1 FSU run tied it up before the Seminoles scored 15 of the final 21 points in the half for a 49-40 halftime lead.
Kiesling led the Eagles with nine points in the first half as Embry-Riddle shot nearly 46 percent from the floor and 47 percent from long range in the frame. Kiel Turpin was the Seminoles’ leader with 10 points and five rebounds.
Florida State flexed its muscles in the second half, outscoring the Eagles 46-33 for the 22-point final, 95-73.
A Dalton Barnes layup with 18:20 left brought the Eagles back to within 53-42, but a 15-4 Florida State run put the game out of reach at 68-46.
Carter hit a long range jumper followed by a driving layup to cut the deficit to 17 with just over 12 minutes remaining, but the hosts managed to go up as many as 25 with under nine minutes left.
Cesar Pastrana hit his final field goal of the night at the 7:49 mark before Powell and Carter followed with layups for the Blue and Gold.
Playing in their first-ever ERAU game, both Brian Johnson and Bradley Mapes connected on treys over the final six minutes, assisted by Barnes and Carter, respectively.
FSU dominated the boards (45-24), shooting 59 percent for the game with 17 free throws in 29 attempts.
ERAU finished the game with a 44 percent clip from the field (43 percent from deep). Joining Carer in double-figures were Barnes with 13 and Kiesling with 12.
