GAMEDAY CENTRAL
Embry-Riddle at St. Thomas
DATE: Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2014
CITY: Miami Gardens, Fla.
SITE: Fernandez Family Center
TIP-OFF: 7 p.m. ET
LIVE STATS: Stretch Internet
LIVE AUDIO: Stretch Internet
LIVE VIDEO: Livestream - STU Broadcast
ON THE RADIO: WELE 1380 AM
SERIES: ERAU leads, 21-19
LAST MEETING: STU 67, ERAU 63 • Jan. 18, 2014 - Daytona Beach, Fla.
THE OPENING TIP
• Embry-Riddle and St. Thomas will be playing for 41st time in men's basketball.
• The Bobcats on a four-game winning streak.
• St. Thomas is 7-2 at home in 2013-14.
• The Eagles have traded wins and losses for the last six games.
• Wednesday's contest marks ERAU Head Coach Steve Ridder's 829th career game.
THE EAGLES
The Eagles fell to fourth in The Sun Conference standings on Saturday, dropping a road decision to Southeastern despite playing one of their best games in a month. Embry-Riddle (10-4) trails St. Thomas (12-2), Southeastern (11-3) and Northwood (9-3) in the table, and will try to get back within a game with a win at St. Thomas.
Cesar Pastrana had the best game of his year on Saturday, scoring a team-high 25 points for the Eagles. The Cartagena, Colombia native averages 9.7 points and 7.2 rebounds per contest, trailing DeForest Carter's 14.8 and Dalton Barnes' 13.2 points per game. Pastrana needs just five points for 800 in his career.
The Eagles' defensive field goal percentage still ranks amongst the best in the nation, holding teams to 39-percent from the field and 30-percent from long range. The Eagles also average 8.8 more rebounds per contest.
Last Time Out
LAKELAND, Fla. – The sixth-ranked Embry-Riddle men's basketball team (21-5, 10-4) suffered its fourth conference loss of the season at the hands of No. 25 Southeastern (20-4) on the road on Saturday. The Fire (20-4), led by 34 points from Dwayne Johnson, topped the Eagles 80-73 to secure their hold on second place in The Sun Conference standings with an 11-3 record in league play.
The Eagles jumped out to an early 7-0 lead on a jumper by Rico Saldana, a long-range shot by DeForest Carter, and a pair of free throws by Reed Ridder. The Fire closed the gap to 7-6, but a Saldana free throw at the 14:51 mark keyed a 10-0 Eagle run over the next four minutes.
Southeastern tried to close the gap again in the final 10 minutes of the frame but the Eagles, led by Cesar Pastrana's 16 first-half points, swelled the lead to as many as 12 points and the visitors took a nine-point lead into the break.
After both teams traded baskets to open the second half, Brandon Moore drilled a three and Dana Thomas hit a jumper to cut the ERAU lead to three points (40-37) with 16:46 remaining in the contest. The Eagles withstood the barrage and steadily moved back up by 10 points, punctuated by a Jason Powell layup at the 12:13 mark.
With the Fire trailing 49-42, Johnson knocked down his second jumper of the half and that marked the start of his takeover of the Southeastern offense. The senior scored on five of the next eight Fire possessions to make it a two-point game (59-57), and at the 6:19 mark, Jordan Talley scored his only points of the half to register the first tie (59-59) of the night.
The home team got its first lead of the contest on Johnson's third long-range basket of the game, but Carter temporarily quieted the raucous Southeastern crown with a layup to put the Blue and Gold back on top, 65-64.
On the next trip down the court, Johnson scored three the old-fashioned way to continue the see-saw battle for the lead. Pastrana turned the ball over on the next Eagle possession, which gave the Fire a chance to add to their lead, but Johnson returned the favor and that led to Powell's only trey of the evening, which made the score 68-67 in the Eagles' favor with 3:55 left to play.
Over the next minute and a half, both teams combined for six turnovers and denied each other with a blocked shot apiece to keep the score at 68-67. Moore was able to break the drought with an unassisted layup, but Pastrana came right back with a jumper for the one-point (70-69) Eagle lead with 1:09 remaining.
At the 1:01 mark, Johnson drained another three and a Carter turnover followed by a Dalton Barnes foul allowed Thomas to add two more to the Fire tally from the free throw line with 48 seconds showing on the clock.
Trailing by four, the Eagles fell victim to the turnover once again and Jake Hodges made it a three-possession (75-70) game by making one of two free throws with 34 seconds left.
With eight seconds remaining, Carter was able to cut the lead to three (76-73), converting on all three free throws after being fouled in the act of shooting a trey. The Eagles elected to foul on the next two possessions, but the Fire made good on all four of their free throws in the last seven seconds to secure the win.
Pastrana finished with a season-high 25 points on 11-of-15 shooting from the field and a perfect 3-for-3 from the charity stripe. Barnes added 12 points and six assists, while Carter finished with 11 points and eight rebounds in the Eagle effort.
SCOUTING ST. THOMAS
Standing on the top of the conference standings, the Bobcats have won four straight and will play three of their final four games at home. STU averages 81.7 points per game, shooting 49-percent from the floor and 34-percent from downtown.
Floyd Battle leads four players averaging in double figures with 15.4 points per game, followed by Kevin Hincapie's 14.2 points, Demonte' Simpsons' 12.2 points and Davorn Bryant's 10.9 points per game. Simpson also records 6.8 rebounds per contest while Hincapie leads the league with 2.9 steals per game.
THE ERAU-STU SERIES
Embry-Riddle leads the all-time series 21-19 after January 18th's win by STU in Daytona Beach. The Eagles split with STU last season with both teams winning on the road.
BY THE NUMBERS
1,229 - Points scored by DeForest Carter, No. 18 on the all-time scoring list
602 - Wins by Head Coach Steve Ridder now in his 25th season with ERAU men's basketball
552 - Career rebounds pulled down by Cesar Pastrana
221 - 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
6 - The Eagles' current national ranking
1 - NAIA National Championship (2000)
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 602 wins in 25 seasons as the Eagles' head coach. |
Embry-Riddle (21-45 10-4)
at
St. Thomas (19-5, 12-2)
2/12/14 | Miami Gardens, Fla. - Fernandez Fam. Center | 7 p.m.
(2013-14 Stats)
|
Stats at a Glance |
STU |
ERAU |
|
Scoring Average |
81.7 |
76.4 |
|
FG Percentage |
.486 (702-1445) |
.480 (714-1486) |
|
3PT FG Percentage |
.338 (104-308) |
.333 (166-499) |
|
FT Percentage |
.612 (452-739) |
.687 (392-571) |
|
Rebounds |
37.3 |
39.8 |
|
Assists |
12.0 |
18.2 |
|
Turnovers |
17.1 |
16.1 |
|
Steals |
10.1 |
8.5 |
|
Related Links |
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• 2013-14 Embry-Riddle Stats |
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• NAIA National Rankings |
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