by NAIA Era Comes to an End for @ERAUMBasketball in Loss to Cornerstone in National Semifinals
By Ryan Mosher | @ryan_mosher, ERAU Athletics
POINT LOOKOUT, Mo. – The Embry-Riddle Men’s Basketball team saw its 27-year run in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics come to an end on Monday evening inside the Keeter Gymnasium on the campus of the College of the Ozarks. Embry-Riddle lost just its second game of the 2014-15 season on Monday, falling 91-81 to Cornerstone (Mich.) in the 2015 NAIA II Men’s Basketball National Championship semifinals, ending one of the best seasons in program history.
The Eagles (35-2) saw a five-point lead with 15 minutes left in the second half turn into an eight-point deficit as Cornerstone (32-5) went on a 13-0 run in a three minute span to spur the Golden Eagles into the national championship game on Tuesday where they will square off against Dakota Wesleyan for the national title.
Embry-Riddle shot 54 percent from the field and got 22 and 20 points, respectively, from Cesar Pastrana and Dalton Barnes, but couldn’t overcome 14 made threes from the Golden Eagles who snapped ERAU’s 18-game winning streak.
Cornerstone took a 41-37 lead into the half, but a quick fastbreak score for DeForest Carter (Seminole Tribe of Florida) cut the lead to just two at the onset of the second period. CU responded with a trey from Travis Wells before the Blue and Gold went on a 13-3 run over the next four minutes, highlighted by six Pastrana points, three Carter assists and two Carter steals.
Leading 52-47 at the 15:05 mark when Carter made a fastbreak layup after the senior stripped the ball from Cory Cox and raced into the front court for the easy layin, the Eagle faithful in the stands and back in the ICI Center could sense a familiar run coming on for the Eagles, one they had made repeatedly over the course of the 2014-15 season. However, this time, it would be the opposition who would make the run as Cornerstone got a layup from Michael McLaughlin to start the comeback and a three pointer each from Cox and Joey Blauwkamp to take a 60-52 lead with 11:46 left in regulation.
Embry-Riddle got a Carter lay in to stop the bleeding, but the Golden Eagles had the answers, going up by nine on a Kyle Steigenga fatbreak dunk with just under 10 to play.
ERAU stayed with CU over the next few minutes, but a back-breaking three from Wells with 7:47 on the clock pushed the lead to 10 at 69-59. The advantage grew to as many as 12 after three free throws from Cox after getting fouled on a three-point attempt, making the score 82-70 in favor of the Golden Eagles, but ERAU had one more run left, trimming the lead to six on a Pastrana and-one layup off a Carter assist, and after the senior made the free throw the Eagles trailed just 83-77 with 2:33 left.
Steiganga went 1-for-2 at the line on the next CU possession, but a turnover for Embry-Riddle and a missed three from Barnes on back-to-back trips down the court hurt the ERAU chances for a comeback as Cornerstone converted five free throws and an easy layup for the 91-81 final.
The first half was back-and-forth as the Eagles and Golden Eagles started slow offensively, but heated up as the game wore on. Wells put CU up by nine with 7:04 left in the half, and ERAU stormed back, led by Barnes who scored seven points in less than a minute to cut the Cornerstone lead to 26-24, and a few possessions later converted an and-one from Carter that knotted things up at 28-28.
Again CU went in front, this time by seven on a Ben Lanning triple, but a Pastrana layup and then five straight points from Daniel Kiesling tied the game at 35-35 with 90 seconds left in the period.
Cox connected on two threes for CU, sandwiched around a Barnes layup as CU took a 41-37 lead into the break.
Cornerstone placed six players in double-figures in scoring the most points against Embry-Riddle this season. Cox paced the team with 19 points while Steigenga and Wells each had 14 for the Golden Eagles. CU outrebounded Embry-Riddle 33-25 on the night.
Carter finished the game with 13 points, 11 assists and seven steals while Kiesling joined Barnes, Carter and Pastrana in double-figures with 10 points. Reed Ridder dished out five assists and made a pair of threes for the Blue and Gold.
For Carter, Pastrana, Jason Powell, Hudson Cadet, Brandon Serle and Andy Schleitwiler Monday’s game marked the final time they would wear an Embry-Riddle basketball uniform as the six seniors depart as one of the winningest senior classes in program history with 102 victories, two Sun Conference Tournament crowns, one Sun Conference regular season title and three trips to the NAIA National Tournament.
For the 2014-15 team, the loss capped a season which saw the Eagles set the program record for wins (35), reach the national tournament semifinals for the second time in program history, up the all-time record at the national tournament to 18-14 and boast winning streaks of 17 and 18 games.
For Head Coach Steve Ridder, he ends his 26th season at the helm of the Embry-Riddle basketball program with a 640-231 (.735) record while earning the 15th trip to the NAIA National Tournament (third-most all-time) in team history.
For Pastrana, the Cartagena, Colombia native ends his four-year Embry-Riddle career with 1,398 points (17th all-time), 890 rebounds (3rd all-time) and a .615 career field goal percentage (3rd all-time).
For Carter, the Big Cypress, Fla. native ends his four-year Eagle career with 1,786 points (5th all-time), 836 assists (1st all-time), 710 rebounds (6th all-time), 589 field goals (9th all-time), 494 free throws (3rd all-time), 380 steals (1st all-time), 176 blocks (2nd all-time) and 135 games played (4th all-time).
