GAMEDAY CENTRAL
NAIA #3 Embry-Riddle (0-0) vs. Florida College (3-0)
DATE: Monday, Nov. 4, 2013
CITY: Temple Terrace, Fla.
SITE: Florida College Gym
START: 7 p.m.
SERIES: ERAU leads 14-0
LAST MEETING: ERAU def. FC 94-72 on Nov. 15, 2011
LIVE STATS: Stretch Internet
TWITTER: @ERAUMBasketball
TEXT ALERTS: Sign up at erauathletics.com
The Opening Tip
• Monday's contest tips off the 26th season of ERAU Basketball
• The Eagles are 21-4 in season openers, including nine straight first-game wins since 2003
• Their No. 3 rating marks the fifth straight season that the Eagles have been ranked in the preseason national polls.
• The preseason national rating is the Eagles' highest since the 2001-02 season when they were ranked third in the preseason poll.
• The Blue and Gold is opening its season on the road for the first time since 2004-05
• Monday's contest marks ERAU Head Coach
Steve Ridder's 802nd career game.
The Eagles
ERAU Men's Basketball will open the season as the third ranked team in the nation according to the NAIA II Men's Basketball Coaches' Preseason Top 25 poll. The Eagles, who received 344 total points, were the biggest movers in the Top 25, jumping 14 spots from the No. 17 position they held in the final poll of the 2012-13 season.
Embry-Riddle finished the 2012-13 campaign at 25-9 overall and 9-7 in conference play. The Eagles had a memorable conference tournament, which included the program's second-ever triple-double by
DeForest Carter and a dramatic double overtime victory over host Northwood in The Sun Conference Tournament championship game. The Blue and Gold closed out the season in the first round of the NAIA National Tournament.
Under the guidance of 25th-year head coach
Steve Ridder, the Eagles return four starters from last year's squad, including honorable mention All-American and first team All-Conference performer
DeForest Carter and second team All-Sun Conference selection
Cesar Pastrana. Carter paced Embry-Riddle last season with 14.0 points, 7.2 assist, 6.1 rebounds, 2.4 steals and 1.5 blocks per contest, while Pastrana was second on the squad with 13.1 points to got with a team-best 8.0 rebounds per contest.
The other returning starters are senior
Rico Saldana and junior
Jason Powell. The lone senior on the 2013-14 roster, Saldana averaged 6.8 points and 5.0 rebounds in his first season with the Eagles, while Powell turned in 12.2 points and 4.9 rebounds per contest.
Scouting the Falcons
Led by first-year head coach Jim Romkey, the Falcons are 3-0 on the season after notching a pair of wins in the Trinity Baptist Tournament. AJ Williams is powering the Falcon offense, averaging 16.3 points per contests including two 18-point performances this season. Williams also leads FC on the boards with a 10-rebound-per-game average.
The ERAU-FC Series
Embry-Riddle has dominated the all-time series against Florida College in a rivalry that dates back to 2003. The Eagles last face the Falcons on Nov. 15, 2011 when they left Temple Terrace, Fla. with a 94-72 win to improve their series lead over Florida College to 14-0.
The Last Time They Met
On Nov. 15 2011, the eighth-ranked Embry-Riddle men's basketball team earned its third win of the season with a 94-72 win over Florida College. The Eagles had seven players score in double figures and every player that took the floor for the Blue Gold scored at least two points as the Eagles improved to 3-1 on the year.
Freshman
Jason Powell was perfect from beyond the arc, hitting all four of his three-point attempts to finish with 15 points.
DeForest Carter led all Eagle scorers with 16 points, while Ray Graham (11), Blake Touchard (12),
Jeremiah Applin (11),
Brandon Serle (10) and
Marko Zjacic (10) comprised the remainder of the ERAU double-digit scorers. Graham recorded the game's only double-double with a season-high 15 rebounds.
The Eagles were faced with adversity even before they took the court, after the team bus failed to start following the team's pre-game meal in Orlando. After waiting for more than an hour and a half for the situation to be resolved, the Eagles were finally able to get back on the road and walked into the Florida College gym with just 27 minutes until tip-off. The change in the usual routine resulted in a somewhat sluggish start for the Blue and Gold who shot just 32.3 percent from the field over the first 12 minutes.
As the game progressed, the Eagles were able to settle into more of a rhythm. After Travis Weathersbee tied the score at 15-15 on a jumper for the Falcons,
Jason Powell fed Blake Touchard for a lay-up and that play sparked a 9-0 Eagle run, giving the visitors a 24-15 lead with 10:16 left in the first half. Led by 10 points each from Touchard and Graham, ERAU continued to build on its lead and took a 44-33 cushion into the locker room at the half.
Coming out of the break, the Eagles maintained their 11-point lead until the 16:11 mark when Kam Bradley tallied two of his game-high 21 points on the night to start an 8-0 Falcon run and pull Florida College with three (53-50) with 13:57 left to play.
That surge prompted ERAU Head Coach
Steve Ridder to call a timeout and his spirited exhortation of his players had the desired effect as they came out and hit back-to-back threes, both by Powell, to build the lead back up to nine (59-50). Over the next seven minutes, the Eagles tallied 15 points to just seven by the Falcons to extend the advantage to 17 points. A few of the starters got into foul trouble, but the players off the bench kept the offense going and helped the Eagles to the 22-point win.
By the Numbers
580 – Wins by Head Coach
Steve Ridder now in his 25th season with ERAU men's basketball
211 – Conference wins in program history
25 – Seasons under the guidance of Head Coach
Steve Ridder
13 – NAIA National Tournament appearances
10 – Sun Conference Tournament titles
8 – Regular season conference championships
3 – The Eagles' preseason national ranking
1 – NAIA National Championship (2000)
Preseason TSC Favorites
The Sun Conference coaches chose Embry-Riddle as the favorite to win the 2013-14 Sun Conference regular season title according to the coaches' poll, which was conducted in October. The Eagles received75 total points, including four first-place votes, followed by Northwood (72), St. Thomas (70), Southeastern (49) and Warner (47).
Among the Nation's Best
Heading into his 25th season at the helm of the ERAU men's basketball program, Head Coach
Steve Ridder ranks fifth on the NAIA Division II men's basketball winningest active coaches listing. Ridder has 580 wins in 24 seasons as the Eagles' head coach.
