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

The 1999-00 NAIA II National Tournament featured an interesting group of semifinal teams. Three of the top four seeds had been knocked out prior to Monday's semifinals, leaving No. 2 Huntington as the highest remaining seed. Matched up with the Forresters was the surprise of the tournament, host College of the Ozarks. The Bobcats notched three straight upsets on their way to the semifinals in their home gym, including a massive blowout of Oregon Tech in the quarterfinals.
 
Huntington boasted the best record in the country at 34-1, and had won their first three games of the tournament by an average of 21.3 points. However, the hometown Bobcats discovered Cinderella's slipper still fit as they took HU to overtime and then upset the Forresters in front of a packed house at Keeter Gymnasium to punch their ticket to the national title contest.
 
"We were in the locker room, and we were amped up," Kyle Mas said. "We were preparing for our game against perennial power Siena Heights and what's the worst thing that could happen for a team ready to play? The previous game going into overtime! The gym was going crazy and that amped us up even more after Ozarks upset the No. 2 seed in the tournament."
 
On the other side of the bracket stood No. 8 Embry-Riddle and No. 5 Siena Heights. The Saints were truly a power in the NAIA, having made five consecutive trips to the national tournament (the Saints made nine straight in total from 1996-2004) and played for the national championship in 1997, losing to Bethel (Ind.), 95-94. The Saints had knocked off ERAU in that 1997 tournament and, like Huntington, the Saints were dominating their competition in the 2000 tournament, averaging 104.7 points and winning games by nearly 18 points per game. That SHU team featured seven players that would earn NAIA All-America honors in their careers, and six of the program's 20 all-time leading scorers…
 
…but none of that mattered on March 13, 2000.
 
Playing as the "home team" for the first time in the tournament, the Eagles found themselves in a big hole early. The Saints took a 14-4 lead with 15:36 on the clock in the first half, but the Blue and Gold turned things around in a hurry with a lightning-fast 10-0 run, started by a three-pointer from Mas and capped by a Rothrock bucket after a Mas steal.
 
The Eagles took their first lead when Mas grabbed an offensive rebound and stuck the ball back in the basket for a 20-18 lead with just under 12 minutes to play. The two teams played evenly for much of the remainder of the first half, but it was SHU with a 32-29 lead with four minutes left.
 
Paul Yaden, like he had done all tournament long, came through with a clutch three-pointer to tie the game and the Eagles would end the half on an 11-6 run to go into the break with a 40-38 lead.
 
"That team really shelved their egos and loved each other," Head Coach Steve Ridder said. "And there was no better example of that than Paul Yaden. He was one of the very best teammates and most humble guys we've ever had." 
 
Both teams shot nearly identically from the field in the first half, and the Eagles' rebounding advantage was just one after 20 minutes. Both of those things changed in the second half.
 
John Davis opened the final period with a bucket, stretching the lead to four, but the Saints answered to get within 42-41 a few moments later. Jason Cruse found an open Davis for an easy bucket on the next ERAU possession, and Cruse racked up another assist when Ryan Rothrock nailed a trey to push the lead to 47-41.
 
The Saint offense, which had hummed all tournament long, was held in check by the Eagle defense, ultimately finishing 25 points under their tournament scoring average. With the Eagle defense taking care of business on one end of the floor, the offense was keeping ERAU comfortably ahead, going up by a dozen when Harold Pierson collected a steal and Cruse finished things off for a 67-55 lead with just under 10 minutes to play.
 
The Saints were able to get within five a few times over the final quarter of game action, but each time, the Eagles had an answer as SHU never got closer than that the rest of the night.
 
Leading 78-73 with 1:14 on the clock the Eagles were sent to the free throw line seven times over the final 74 seconds. Embry-Riddle made 12 of its 14 double-bonus free throws, icing the game to head to the national championship contest.
 
In the second half, the Eagles shot 53 percent from the floor while holding the high-powered Saints to just a 40.5 percent clip. The Eagles also out-rebounded SHU by 12 in the closing period (51-38 for the game).
 
Mas led the way offensively for ERAU, scoring a game-high 18 points to go along with seven rebounds, two steals and two assists. Cruse had his second double-double of the tournament with 14 points and 13 boards, flirting with a triple-double thanks to seven assists. Rothrock added 14 points, while Yon Price finished with 12 points and six rebounds, and Pierson had 10 points for the Eagles. Heath Fabacher played 15 minutes and managed nine points and nine rebounds.
 
The Eagles were on to the national championship game…