GAMEDAY CENTRAL
Embry-Riddle at Ave Maria
DATE: Thursday, Jan. 22, 2014
CITY: Daytona Beach, Fla.
SITE: ICI Center
TIP-OFF: 7 p.m. ET
LIVE STATS: Stretch Internet
LIVE AUDIO: Stretch Internet
LIVE VIDEO: Livestream
ON THE RADIO: WELE 1380 AM
SERIES: ERAU leads, 8-1
LAST MEETING: ERAU 71, AMU 58 - Feb. 16, 2013 - Daytona Beach, Fla.
THE OPENING TIP
• Embry-Riddle and Ave Maria are meeting in men's basketball for the 10th time.
• The Gyrenes are under the direction of first-year Head Coach Ken Dagostino.
• The No. 3-ranked Eagles had their seven game win streak snapped on Saturday by St. Thomas.
• Thursday's contest marks ERAU Head Coach Steve Ridder's 822nd career game.
THE EAGLES
Embry-Riddle will look to respond to just its second loss of the 2013-14 season after dropping Saturday's home contest to the visiting Bobcats of St. Thomas, 67-63. ERAU dropped to No. 3 in Tuesday's NAIA II Coaches' Poll, snapping their four-poll streak of being ranked No. 1.
ERAU hopes to improve its field goal percentage to over 50-percent after it fell to 49.6-percent following the STU defeat. The Eagles will also need to limit their turnovers after they played a large part in Saturday's loss. ERAU averages 16.6 turnovers per game, while opponents average 16.0.
DeForest Carter still leads the team offensively with 16.2 points per game, dishing out 6.7 assists, pulling down 4.9 rebounds and recording 2.8 steals each game. Dalton Barnes' 12.7 points per game ranks second on the team while Jason Powell averages 9.9 points, 3.1 assists and 3.9 rebounds.
Last Time Out
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - For the fourth time in the last five meetings, the No. 22 St. Thomas Bobcats beat the top-ranked Embry-Riddle Eagles, winning on Saturday night at the ICI Center, 67-63 in what was billed as the NAIA Division II Game of the Week. Cold shooting and 22 turnovers doomed the Eagles (17-2, 6-1) who lost for the first time at home since Feb. 13 of last year. The Bobcats (13-4, 6-1) led for the majority of the game, pulling away late in the second half to secure the upset victory.
Floyd Battle set the tone for the Bobcats right away, burying a three-pointer on the first St. Thomas posession of the game as the visitors took an early 3-0 lead.
The Eagles claimed a 9-7 advantage when DeForest Carter converted from long range with 14:41 left in the first, and the home team stretched its lead to 13-7 on a Rico Saldana layup and two free throws from Cesar Pastrana. St. Thomas answered with a 10-0 run with eight points coming in the paint, to take a 17-13 lead, but ERAU answered right back to knot the game at 17-17 on two Daniel Kiesling free throws.
Jason Powell's trey with 7:39 left in the half gave the Eagles a 22-19 cushion and the Blue and Gold's last lead would come after Powell hit another triple with just under four minutes left in the period to make the score 27-25 in favor of Embry-Riddle.
STU finished the half on an 11-1 run to take a 36-28 lead into the break with Battle's three-pointer with three seconds on the clock punctuating the Bobcat spurt.
St. Thomas shot 45-percent in the first half, including 4-for-8 from deep, while the Eagles shot just 33-percent and 3-for-12 from beyond the arc.
The Eagles began the slow climb back into the game with a 6-2 run in the first three minutes of play of the second half, but the Bobcats turned to Battle and Kevin Hincapie who sparked a Bobcat run that put the visitors up 49-38 with 11:58 left in regulation.
Carter and Kiesling scored the next six points to trim the deficit to 49-44, but again, Battle had an answer and drilled a three at the top of the key to extend the Bobcat lead back to eight at 52-44.
Trailing 57-51, the Eagles put together another quick run as Powell and Pastrana got the lead down to just 57-55, but an offensive rebound on the other end kept a Bobcat possession alive and Davorn Bryant put in a layup as the Bobcats went up by four.
Saldana hit a runner in the lane with 3:52 left for a 59-57 ball game and the next two minutes were hectic as a total of nine missed shots, and two crucial Eagle turnovers resulted in a Battle jump shot in the paint with 1:19 left to give St. Thomas a 62-57 advantage.
Carter and Barnes both hit three-pointers in the last 20 seconds, but the Bobcats converted enough free throws to emerge with the four-point win and snap ERAU's seven-game win streak.
Battle led all scorers with 24 while Barnes paced the Eagles with 15 points. Carter added 14 and Saldana had a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
SCOUTING AVE MARIA
The Gyrenes claimed their first Sun Conference victory last week with a win at Southeaster, but on Tuesday, dropped a 64-42 decision to Florida Memorial at home. AMU averages 71.4 points per game, shooting 47-percent from the field, 34-percent from deep and 69-percent from the charity stripe.
THE ERAU-AMU SERIES
Thursday's game marks the 10th meeting between the Eagles and Gyrenes with ERAU holding a 8-1 advantage all-time. Last season, Ave Maria knocked off the Eagles for the first time in school history with a 95-89 win in Ave Maria on Jan. 17. ERAU was able to answer with a 71-58 victory in Daytona Beach a month later.
Matt Chattin leads the Gyrenes with 21.3 points per game, shooting at a 51-percent clip from the floor and an impressive 46-percent from three-point land. Chattin also averages 4.3 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 1.7 steals per contest. Wendell Powell averages 15.3 points for AMU, but hasn't played since Jan. 4, while Jon Russo brings 10.5 points and 4.9 boards to the Ave Maria effort.
MILESTONE WATCH
DeForest Carter moved past David Butler on the all-time scoring list at Embry-Riddle, now standing at 1,152 points in 85 games, good for 19th in Eagle history. Next up for Carter is Jason William's 1,177 points. Carter also needs just 11 rebounds to reach 500 for his career and three blocks to move past Nick Miller for sixth all-time.
BY THE NUMBERS
1,152 - Points scored by DeForest Carter, No. 20 on the all-time scoring list
598 - Wins by Head Coach Steve Ridder now in his 25th season with ERAU men's basketball
217 - 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
1 - The Eagles' current national ranking
1 - NAIA National Championship (2000)
PRESEASON CONFERENCE 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 598 wins in 25 seasons as the Eagles' head coach. |
Embry-Riddle (17-2, 6-1)
at
Ave Maria (7-11, 1-6)
1/23/13 | Ave Maria, Fla. - Tom Golisano Field House | 7 p.m.
(2013-14 Stats)
|
Stats at a Glance |
AMU |
ERAU |
|
Scoring Average |
71.4 |
79.9 |
|
FG Percentage |
.467 (455-974) |
.496 (547-1102) |
|
3PT FG Percentage |
.338 (97-287) |
.351 (129-367) |
|
FT Percentage |
.689 (277-402) |
.699 (295-422) |
|
Rebounds |
33.7 |
40.4 |
|
Assists |
13.2 |
19.3 |
|
Turnovers |
15.8 |
16.6 |
|
Steals |
6.8 |
9.2 |
|
Related Links |
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• 2013-14 Embry-Riddle Stats |
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• NAIA National Rankings |
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