Celebrating the 20th Anniversary of the 1999-00 Embry-Riddle Men's Basketball National Championship

The Eagles' 1999-00 national tournament run began at 4 p.m. (CT) on Wednesday, March 8, 2000. The Blue and Gold, seeded eighth in the 32-team tournament, drew the Dominican College Chargers out of Orangeburg, New York in the opening round. 
 
Dominican was making its first-ever appearance at the national tournament. The Chargers would appear in one more NAIA National Tournament the following season before making the transition to the NCAA II ranks. DC entered the contest with a 20-13 record after claiming the CACC Tournament championship.
 
For Embry-Riddle, it had been 10 days since the Eagles last played, winning the Florida Sun Conference Tournament championship game against Palm Beach Atlantic and it took a while for the Blue and Gold to get going against the Chargers, but a crucial 12-0 run at the end of the first half was the first spark for the Eagles on their way to the 2000 national title.
 
 
The Embry-Riddle men's basketball team began the 2000 NAIA II National Tournament with a 74-58 win over Dominican (N.Y.) on Wednesday afternoon. The eighth-seeded Eagles (28-7) got a huge first half from freshman Harold Pierson and took advantage of a big free throw disparity to eliminate the Chargers (20-14) from Keeter Gymnasium. Wednesday's win marked the fifth time in six national tournaments that Head Coach Steve Ridder's squad advanced past the first round.
 
The Eagles started slowly on Wednesday, needing to shake off the rust of a 10-day layoff. It was the Chargers that jumped out to an early 5-0 lead before Ryan Rothrock made the first bucket of the national tournament for the Blue and Gold.
 
Trailing 9-5 after five minutes, Jason Cruse scored the Eagles' next four points and Pierson, who had just entered the game for the first time at the 13-minute mark, gave ERAU its first lead of the day with a triple off a Kyle Mas pass. Mas grabbed a rebound on the next Dominican field goal attempt and Rothrock found Pierson for another trey as the Eagles went up 15-11 at the 12:28 mark.
 
The Eagle freshman continued his scorching shooting with another basket a few moments later with ERAU taking its biggest lead of the half at 17-11. However, a 13-0 run by the Chargers from the 11-minute mark to the four-minute mark had the Eagles in a 24-17 hole. Embry-Riddle missed six straight shots and turned the ball over seven times over that seven-minute span.
 
All-America candidate Cruse had enough. The FSC Player of the Year sparked a big 14-0 run for the Blue and Gold to end the half, starting with a bucket at the 3:45 mark to get the Eagles within 24-19. On the next Eagle possession, Cruse was fouled and made both free throws to make it 24-21 and perhaps the biggest turning point of the game came next when Paul Yaden connected on a three-pointer with two minutes to play and was fouled in the process. Yaden completed the four-point play and suddenly the Eagles were up 25-24.
 
Rothrock came up with a steal on the next DC possession and Pierson finished the play with a bucket. Pierson then scored the next four points of the game, finishing with the final six of the half and 14 total for the period, including a shot at the buzzer from a Cruse assist and the Eagles took a 31-24 lead into the break.
 
Like the first, the second half was tightly contested, but the Blue and Gold never relinquished the lead. The Chargers got to within a possession five separate times and each time a different Eagle responded with points on the very next Embry-Riddle possession.
 
Dominican started the half with two straight buckets to get within 31-28, but Yon Price grabbed a big offensive rebound on the following possession and made a basket and-one to stop the Charger momentum.
 
With the Eagles up 47-41 with 11 minutes left, Dominican hit a three to make it a three-point game, but this time it was Rothrock with the answer to push the lead back to five at 49-44.
 
Mas had a big offensive put-back after the Chargers got within 51-48 and Cruse made a pair of free throws on the next trip down the floor after Dominican made it 53-50.
 
The final time the Chargers were within one possession came at the 7:37 mark when a DC basket put them just three points back (55-52), and the final Eagle to answer the call was Yaden who came through with his second huge three-pointer of the day, pushing the Eagle lead to six.
 
ERAU led 63-58 with four minutes remaining and for those final minutes, the Eagles held the Chargers scoreless, ending the game on an 11-0 run, including going 6-for-8 at the charity stripe to seal the victory.

"Our composure returned tonight," Ridder said. "We didn't have that when we lost three games in a row. We played more typical today of how our season has been. We defended hard. When we hold teams to under 40 percent, we are usually pretty successful. Hopefully, we can do that for the rest of the tournament."

"It's very important for us to get past the second round, but we have our sights set higher than that," Cruse said. " We know, though, that the most important step is the next one."
 
Pierson led all scorers with 18 points on 6-for-7 shooting, while Cruse finished with a double-double of 16 points and 12 rebounds to go along with three blocks and two steals. Rothrock and Mas each had a dozen points for ERAU as Rothrock added seven assists.