GAMEDAY CENTRAL
Thomas at Embry-Riddle
DATE: Thursday, Jan. 9, 2014
CITY: Daytona Beach, Fla.
SITE: ICI Center (1,968)
TIP-OFF: 7 p.m. ET
LIVE STATS: Stretch Internet
LIVE AUDIO: Stretch Internet
LIVE VIDEO: Stretch Internet
ON THE RADIO: WELE 1380 AM
SERIES: Tied, 1-1
THE OPENING TIP
• Embry-Riddle and Thomas are meeting in men's basketball for the third time, first since 1999.
• The Night Hawks are in the first year of competition after restarting their program.
• The top-ranked Eagles are playing their 61st game ranked No. 1. Embry-Riddle is 53-7 all-time.
• Tuesday's contest marks ERAU Head Coach Steve Ridder's 817th career game.
• Each of the previous two games in the series have been at the ICI Center with the Eagles winning 80-79 on Nov. 11, 1996 and the Night Hawks claiming a 109-101 victory on Nov. 8, 1999.
THE EAGLES
Embry-Riddle retained the top billing in the NAIA II Coaches' Poll on Tuesday, claiming 372 total points behind 11 first-place votes to secure the No. 1 ranking. Shortly after the poll was released, the Eagles improved to 6-1 in 2013-14 while ranked No. 1.
The current Sun Conference Player of the Week DeForest Carter leads the Blue and Gold on the court, scoring 16.3 points per game, dishing out 6.8 assists per game (good for third in the country, first in the conference), grabbing 5.1 rebounds, collecting 2.6 steals and turning away 1.6 shots per contest.
As a team, the Eagles average 82.2 points per game, holding opponents to just 61.6 points for a +20 scoring margin. Embry-Riddle leads the country in defensive field goal percentage (.359) and defensive 3-point field goal percentage (.259). Thus far in three games of conference action, the Eagles have held TSC teams to a .354 clip from the floor and a .245 mark from beyond the arc.
Freshman Dalton Barnes brings 11.7 points and 4.7 rebounds to each game while four other Eagles all average at least 9.3 points per game, including Cesar Pastrana (9.7), Rico Saldana (9.7), Jason Powell (9.6) and Reed Ridder (9.3).
Last Time Out
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Moments before Tuesday's tip against Sun Conference foe Florida Memorial, the Embry-Riddle Eagles retained the No. 1 ranking in the third regular season NAIA II Coaches' Poll. The top-ranked Eagles overcame a sluggish and disjointed game against the Lions to secure a 71-52 victory, moving to 53-7 all-time as the No. 1 team in the country. The Eagles jumped to 14-1 overall and 3-0 in league action while the Lions fell to 3-10 and 0-2 respectively.
Reigning Sun Conference Player of the Week DeForest Carter once again led the Eagle offensive attack, scoring 15 of his game-high 21 points in the first half as Embry-Riddle took a 34-20 lead into the break and the Lions never threatened in the last 20 minutes.
For the fourth consecutive game, the Eagles held an opponent to less than 34-percent shooting from the field as Florida Memorial managed a 31-percent clip on 16-for-52 shooting. The Blue and Gold also forced 24 turnovers and scored 30 points from those FMU miscues en route to the victory.
After Rico Saldana won the tip, Dalton Barnes tracked the ball down and took it all the way to the hoop for the first points of the game, followed by another Barnes layup a few possessions later for a 4-2 lead.
FMU knotted the score at 6-6 on Samuel Dorismond's fastbreak layup at the 15:58 mark, but Daniel Kiesling knocked down a three-pointer for the home team and the Eagles led the rest of the way, pushing the lead to 12-8 when Carter hit a triple.
Barnes was fouled on a jumper at the 7:50 mark and converted both his offerings from the charity stripe as the Eagles doubled-up the Lions, 20-10. Embry-Riddle pushed the lead to 30-18 when Carter hit a pair of free throws and the junior from Big Cypress, Fla. accounted for the next four Eagle points to end the half, including a reverse layup on the last ERAU possession.
Barnes started the second half just like he did the first, with an easy layup, and the Blue and Gold made an effort to get Cesar Pastrana the ball in the post over the next several offensive trips down the floor. Pastrana scored seven straight Eagle points as the Eagles took a 43-30 lead with 14 minutes remaining and Reed Ridder and Pastrana traded off on the next three buckets as Embry-Riddle's cushion grew to 49-35.
Embry-Riddle's biggest lead of the evening came on a Jason Powell layup for a 66-42 advantage with just over three minutes to go in the second half and the Eagle bench did the rest as ERAU moved to 42-12 all-time against Florida Memorial.
Other than Carter's 21 points, Pastrana and Hudson Cadet each reached double figures with 11 and 10 points respectively while Kiesling ended the night with five points, six rebounds and six steals.
SCOUTING THOMAS
Head Coach Stephen Cox and the Night Hawks come to Daytona Beach hoping to snap a two-game losiing streak after home losses to Coastal Georgia (82-74) and St. Thomas (77-65). TU's lone TSC win came at home against Florida Memorial (81-63) and Thursday's matchup with the Eagles will the the Night Hawks' first road game in league play.
Leading the Night Hawk offensive charge is senior Justyn Watkins who also leads The Sun Conference with 22.1 points per game. Max Grace and Trey Gosier average 14.1 and 11.3 points respectively for Thomas,a team that averages 74.2 points per game with a 43-percent field goal percentage.
TU is outrebounding its opponents 38-to-35 while forcing an average of 17.6 turnovers per game.
THE ERAU-TU SERIES
Tonight's game marks just the third game in the series between the Eagles and Night Hawks. Each team owns a win in the series with both games occuring in Daytona Beach.
BY THE NUMBERS
594 - Wins by Head Coach Steve Ridder now in his 25th season with ERAU men's basketball
214 - 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)
THE EAGLES AT NO. 1
The Eagles are 53-7 all-time as the top-ranked team in the land. Embry-Riddle spent the entire 2000-01 season at No. 1, going 32-4 and went 15-2 in 2006 as the top-ranked squad. The Eagles have been ranked in the top-10 in 112 polls all-time.
4-0 ATTEMPT
The Eagles are trying to go to 4-0 in Sun Conference play for the first time since 2009-10 when they started the year 6-0 in league play.
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 594 wins in 25 seasons as the Eagles' head coach. |
Thomas (8-5, 1-2)
at
Embry-Riddle (14-1, 3-0)
1/9/13 | Daytona Beach, Fla. - ICI Center | 7 p.m.
(2013-14 Stats)
|
Stats at a Glance |
TU |
ERAU |
|
Scoring Average |
74.2 |
82.2 |
|
FG Percentage |
.432 (357-826) |
.502 (447-891) |
|
3PT FG Percentage |
.263 (51-194) |
.356 (106-298) |
|
FT Percentage |
.672 (199-296) |
.693 |
|
Rebounds |
37.7 |
41.5 |
|
Assists |
11.1 |
19.5 |
|
Turnovers |
16.1 |
15.9 |
|
Steals |
7.8 |
9.4 |
|
Related Links |
|
• 2013-14 Embry-Riddle Stats |
|
• NAIA National Rankings |
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