Daytona Beach, FL- The men's basketball team has been basking in the warm sun of Daytona Beach, Florida since Wednesday afternoon. After a day of preparation Graceland was ready to do battle Friday evening against NAIA perennial power Embry Riddle. In a game with plenty of offense, the Jackets struggled to contain Embry Riddle and ended the night with a 92-78 defeat. Graceland had three in double figures as Mike Malat once again paced the Jackets with 17, sophomore forward Aundrae Williams had 16 and Kevin Potter had 14 off the bench. The Jackets started out to an early 14-10 lead and kept pace with the Eagles until the midpoint in the 1st half. Graceland struggled to get stops on defense, and Embry Riddle was capitalizing on every Jacket miss and pulled away in the waning minutes of the 1st half. The Eagles would take a 16 point lead into the locker room at halftime. In the second half, the Jackets didn't let the lead expand any actually outscoring the Eagles by 2. Graceland however, would still fall by 14. "We've got to be able to go on the road and play better defense then we did tonight," Coach Quinn said from Daytona Beach. "Embry Riddle is a great team, but we have teams equally as good in our conference. The bottom line is a better effort on the defensive end. That's what's going to help us begin winning games," Quinn concluded with. Graceland next plays Saturday evening at 6:00 against Brewton Parker College of Mount Vernon, Georgia. The game will determine third place in the Daytona Mitsubishi Shootout.
