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

Following a tremendous second round game against Concordia, the Eagles were set to take on Grand View College in the quarterfinals. The Vikings (22-10) had delivered the shock of the tournament on Friday night when they upset No. 1 MidAmerica Nazarene, 71-68, and were looking to do it again against ERAU, but the Eagles, particularly the Eagle defense, had a different idea.
 
Playing in their first-ever national quarterfinals, the Blue and Gold scored first and never trailed, leading for all but 80 seconds the entire night while the Vikings were held to a season-low 52 points, managing only 33 percent (19-for-58) from the field and the Eagles won handily, 75-52.
 
Embry-Riddle absolutely dominated every facet of the game, making 10 more field goals on eight less shots, doubling-up the Vikings in three-pointers (10-5) and out-rebounding GVC 40-28. 
 
Individually, Jason Cruse out-played fellow first team All-American Derek Bills significantly, as the Ohio native scored a game-high 20 points on 6-for-8 shooting from the floor, including a perfect 4-for-4 night from long range. The Eagles held Bills, Grand View's all-time leading scorer to just five points on 2-for-10 shooting, including a 1-for-7 effort from beyond the arc.
 
Kyle Mas scored 13 points as the only other Eagle in double-figures offensively, while Yon Price finished with nine points, six rebounds and four assists. Ryan Rothrock dished out eight assists with four steals as the Eagles assisted on 17 shots and managed to turn the Vikings over 18 times in the game.
 
Fittingly, the first bucket of the game came off a GVC turnover as Mas made it 2-0 a minute into the contest. After the Vikings briefly tied it up at 2-2, John Davis gave the Eagles back a two-point lead and the Eagles sprinted away, growing the cushion up to double-digits when Cruse's second three-pointer made it 19-9 at the 11-minute mark.
 
Just a few minutes later, the advantage for ERAU was 28-11 on Rothrock's lone three of the game and the lead grew to as many as 18 in the first half before the Vikings were able to make a small run and get it to 39-26 at the break.
 
Embry-Riddle shot a blistering 62 percent (16-for-26) in the opening period while keeping the Vikings to only a 31 percent (9-for-29) clip from the floor. Cruse scored 14 points of his 20 points in the first half as the Eagles enjoyed their biggest halftime lead since Dec. 31 against Lynchburg.
 
Like most basketball games, the first five minutes of the second half were crucial, with the Vikings getting within single-digits (41-32) at the 16:26 mark, but Yon Price came up with a huge offensive rebound and bucket to stop what little momentum GVC had.
 
Price's field goal sparked a 13-2 run for the Eagles over the next six minutes and he capped the spurt by finding Heath Fabacher for a basket to make the score 54-34 Embry-Riddle with just under 11 minutes left to play.
 
The Vikings would get no closer than 18 the rest of the way and the Eagles' defensive effort never relented, holding GVC to 26 points in both periods for a 75-52 blowout.
 
The 23-point win was the largest postseason win in program history at that point and set up a date in the NAIA II National Tournament semifinals with perennial power Siena Heights (Mich.), a team that had ended the Eagles' season at the national tournament in 1997.