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

"The championship run story often omits our second round game against Concordia. That was the toughest, most experienced team we played in the tournament. That game was our toughest, and put us over the hump to make the championship run."
- Paul Yaden
 

The 2000 NAIA II National Tournament marked the sixth time Embry-Riddle had qualified for the national tournament, but the Eagles had never advanced past the second round, falling in tightly-contested second-round games in 1993 to William Jewell (88-82), 1996 to William Jewell again (89-82), 1997 to Siena Heights (83-79) and 1999 to Black Hills State (78-72).

Concordia, out of Portland, Oregon, entered the second round matchup with the Eagles at 24-8, having won 16 of its last 18, and boasting the best player in program history in Alphonso Niles. Niles, a three-time first team NAIA All-American, was the Cavaliers' all-time leading scorer, and he spearheaded one of the best offenses in the country that season. Concordia, seeded ninth in the 32-team tournament, had handled its first-round opponent, Bethany out of Kansas, with no problem, 85-67.

One advantage the Eagles did have was an extra day of rest. ERAU played early in the evening on Wednesday, while Concordia had the final game of the first round on Thursday night, giving the Cavaliers just 24 hours to recover. The Eagles and Cavaliers squared off in the final game of the second round, with the tip coming well after 10 p.m. local time in Keeter Gymnasium. Perhaps the extra day of rest was exactly what the Blue and Gold needed to finally advance past the second round of the national tournament, which is exactly what they did on Thursday night, surviving a tough Concordia squad, 80-77. The Eagles (28-7) advanced to the quarterfinals of the national tournament for the first time in program history while the Cavaliers (24-9) ended their season in Point Lookout.

The Eagles overcame the Cavs shooting 52 percent from the floor (30-for-58) and 47 percent from long range (8-for-17), with the most crucial stretch of the game occurring early in the second half.

Concordia had taken a 41-35 lead into the break and opened the second period with two buckets to push the lead to double-digits, 45-35. The Eagles missed their first two shots of the half and turned the ball over twice in the first two and a half minutes coming out of the locker room.

Things began to change at the 17:27 mark when Ryan Rothrock found Kyle Mas and the junior drilled a three-pointer. After a Concordia miss on its next trip down the floor, Rothrock was fouled in the act of shooting and made both free throws, trimming the lead to five at 45-40.

A big offensive foul on the Cavs gave the ball back to the Eagles and this time Rothrock made his own trey, bringing ERAU within two. Following another Concordia miss, Yon Price grabbed the defensive rebound and quickly got it to Rothrock and the sophomore nailed his second consecutive triple to cap an 11-0 run in just 67 seconds.

Both teams went back-and-forth over the next few minutes, with neither team leading by more than a possession until Jason Cruse passed to Mas for a three-pointer to give the Blue and Gold a 52-48 lead at the 13:37 mark.

Heath Fabacher, playing one of his finest games as an Eagle, was a force on the defensive end, making seven-footer Don Carter work for everything and during a 50 second stretch around the nine minute mark, Fabacher scored four straight ERAU points to push the advantage to 63-58.

The Cavaliers tied the game at 65-65 with just under seven minutes left to play, but a missed free throw from Carter kept the game knotted before Price drew a foul on the CU big man, converting both free throws to give the Eagles the lead for good at 67-65.

Cruse, who blocked the next Cavs shot and grabbed the rebound, fed Fabacher for an easy two on the next Eagle possession and then Fabacher grabbed his own miss a few possessions later, putting it back in for the biggest Eagle lead of the game at 71-65 with five minutes on the clock.

Cruse's lone three-pointer of the night came off a Fabacher assist at the 2:05 mark, and the Eagle lead was 76-70. However, a 4-0 spurt by Concordia over the next 90 seconds made it a one possession game.

With 18 seconds left, Yaden was fouled and made both his shots from the free throw stripe to push the lead to 78-74.

Concordia got a three with four seconds remaining and Mas tracked down a loose ball under the Concordia basket when ERAU inbounded the ball. The pick-up prompted a foul by Concordia and Mas calmly stepped up to the line to knock down a pair of free throws to give ERAU a three-point lead.

The rest was history as the Cavaliers missed on their final desperation shot and Embry-Riddle took the step that had eluded them for so long.

Rothrock and Mas each had 15 points for the Eagles, and Fabacher came off the bench for a double-double of 12 points and 10 rebounds. Cruse finished with 11 points, nine rebounds, and five assists. Mas and Price each had seven boards for the Blue and Gold as the Eagles owned a 40-33 advantage on the glass.

Concordia led the entire first half, shooting nearly 60 percent from the floor in the opening period.

"After we won our second round game, we had gone out to a restaurant for a dinner and after the meal was over and everyone was on the bus, Coach Ridder was pacing in front of the restaurant like he does on the sidelines during a game. His head was down and you could see the gears were turning. I went up to him and I said, 'Hey Coach, we're all ready to go.' He looked me dead in the eyes and said, 'Whitey, we are going to WIN this whole tournament!' And he was right."
- Ryan White, Team Manager