by DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The final season in the NAIA started off with a bang for the 13th-ranked Embry-Riddle men’s basketball team on Saturday evening. The Eagles (1-0) cruised past visiting Sterling (1-2), 87-45 for their largest season opening victory since the 2007-08 season. Embry-Riddle forced 27 Warrior turnovers and scored 45 points from them en route to the 42-point win. The Blue and Gold improved to 23-4 all-time in season openers and will host Florida College on Tuesday, Nov. 11 at 7 p.m. in its next contest.
ERAU got 18 points from newcomer Joseph Gonzalez to lead the way on Saturday, as the Eagles shot nearly 53 percent from the floor (32-for-61) with 41 points coming from the bench. Joining Gonzalez in double-figures were Cesar Pastrana with 11 and DeForest Carter (Seminole Nation of Florida) with 10.
The game started off with a pair of turnovers and missed shots for both teams, but it was the visitors who scored first on a Braden Thompson tip-in 70 seconds in. The Eagles quickly answered with a Pastrana layup thanks to a Daniel Kiesling assist and when Carter recorded a fastbreak dunk a minute later the Eagles never looked back, going up 12-4 in the next four minutes of play.
Thompson connected on a pair of free throws at the 13:11 mark to cut the Warrior deficit to 12-6, but over the next five minutes it was all Embry-Riddle as the hosts blitzed the visitors for a 14-0 run, featuring seven points from Gonzalez as the hosts took a commanding 26-6 advantage with 8:41 to go in the first half.
Sterling saw the ERAU lead balloon to 22 when Bradley Mapes and Brandon Serle recorded a pair of back-to-back jumpers, but the Warriors responded with an 11-0 run, capped by a Brandon Givens trey to get within 35-24.
Dalton Barnes was fouled in the act of shooting with 42 seconds left and after the sophomore hit a pair from the line neither team scored again in the period with ERAU taking a 37-24 lead into the locker room.
Coming out of the break the hosts put together an 8-0 run, thanks in part to two straight Warrior turnovers leading to a layup and three ball from Kiesling that put the Eagles up 45-24 with 18:56 on the clock in the second.
Reed Ridder and Kiesling hit a pair of triples sandwiched around a Carter layup, and when the senior from Big Cypress, Fla. got an outlet pass from Kiesling following a missed Sterling shot, he drove down the lane and made an acrobatic layup for a 55-29 cushion.
Over the final 15 minutes of the game the Eagles continued to build on their lead, going up by 36 on a Carter dunk with 12:20 left and 39 when Gonzalez nailed his second three-pointer of the night on the next Eagle possession.
Jason Powell’s long range jumper under eight minutes left put the home team up by 40, and the Blue and Gold’s biggest lead of the night came when Drew Sciano recorded a three with 3:27 on the clock for an 85-39 advantage.
Embry-Riddle held the Warriors to 34 percent from the field, including 3-of-20 from beyond the arc, also outrebounding Sterling 44-26. All but one of the Eagles that saw action recorded a field goal while the team collected 20 assists and 17 steals.
