POINT LOOKOUT, Mo. – The eighth-seeded Embry-Riddle men’s basketball team overcame a slow start to register a first-round victory over The Evergreen State College (wash.) on the opening day of the 19th Annual NAIA Division II National Championship, Tuesday at the Keeter Gymnasium on the campus of the College of the Ozarks. With the win, the Eagles move on to the second round of the single-elimination tournament and improve their record to 29-5 on the year.
The Geoducks got their offense going early, racing out to a 12-0 lead in the first four and a half minutes. The Eagles were unable to get anything going offensively, managing only 36.7 percent from the field, and their defensive stance was not up to par as they allowed Evergreen State to shoot 58.1 percent from the field in the first half.
After scoring their first bucket of the game at the 15:03 mark, the Eagles cut the lead to eight points with 14:38 left in the period. Nathan Menefee scored four unanswered points and a three-pointer by Julio Feliciano at the 11:49 mark gave the Geoducks their biggest lead of the half of 15 points. The Eagles managed to cut the lead to eight once again late in the half, but Evergreen State continued to hold the Eagles at bay and held a 13-point lead at the half.
When the second frame began it appeared that Evergreen State would dominate as they had in the first as the Geoducks went up by 16 less than two minutes into the half. But the Eagles employed the never-say-die attitude that earned them a spot in the 32-team national tournament.
Ray Graham started the comeback with a lay-up at the 18:44 mark. After forcing back-to-back Geoduck turnovers, David Butler put back a Graham miss and Blake Touchard hit his one of his three treys to pull the Eagles within nine. The Geoducks managed to fend off the Eagle attack over the next three and a half minutes and maintained a double-digit lead until Touchard’s third three-pointer made it a seven-point game (59-52) with 14:03 left on the clock. That triple was part of a 19-9 run that included Graham’s second three of the day and cut the lead to two (68-66) at the 7:17 mark.
With 4:43 left to play, Amos Safield picked up his fourth foul to send Eric Lorenzi to the line. Lorenzi, a 72 percent free throw shooter on the year, stepped up to the line and sank both free throws to tie the game at 70-70. Just over a minute later, Lorenzi was fouled again and his next two makes from the charity stripe gave the Blue and Gold its first lead of the afternoon (72-70).
The Geoducks followed with a pair of free throws of their own to make the score 72-72 and the score remained deadlocked until the 1:31 mark when Graham collected his second offensive rebound of the game and put the Eagles back up by two (74-72) with a tip-in.
Free throws were the story of the last minute of the contest. Following an Evergreen State missed three, the Eagles rebounded the ball and got it inside to David Butler who was fouled on the play. Butler made good on both of his free throw attempts to put the Eagles up 76-74 with 38 seconds on the clock.
After calling a timeout, the Geoducks got the ball to their leading scorer Menefee who was awarded three free throws after being judged to have been fouled in the act of shooting a long-range jumper. Menefee made good on all three attempts to reclaim a one-point margin for Evergreen State.
One the ensuing Embry-Riddle possession, the ball went to Lorenzi on the left side and the senior drove to the basket and hit a lay-up to put the Eagles back on top by one. With seven seconds remaining, the Geoducks got the ball back to Menefee, but his attempt missed the mark and after grabbing the rebound, Blake Touchard was fouled by Jemier Dodd. Touchard also made his free throws to give the Eagles a three-point advantage with five seconds left to play.
Down by three, Evergreen State got the ball to Menefee who managed to draw a foul at midcourt with 1.9 seconds showing on the clock. Menefee made the first and intentionally missed the second to give the Geoducks a chance at an offensive rebound, but the strategy did not pay off as Butler grabbed the Menefee miss to seal the Embry-Riddle win.
“I am incredibly proud of the all-out effort and refuse-to-lose mentality that our team showed today,” ERAU head coach Steve Ridder stated. “It looked like I was watching a different team defensively in the first 20 minutes. We told the team at half time that we would have to play the best defense of the year in the second half and our guys responded and came up with some big plays down the stretch.”
Butler was the leading scorer for the Eagles, finishing with 25 points, 13 rebounds, four assists and four blocks off the bench. Lorenzi turned in a 22-point, seven-rebound performance, while Touchard (14 points) and Graham (15 points, 7 boards) closed out the Eagle scorers in double figures.
Menefee tallied a game-high 26 points as the Geoducks ended their season at 19-11.
The Eagles’ next game will be at 8:30 a.m. when they take on ninth-seeded Bethel (Ind.) in the second round. Bethel advanced with a 77-67 victory over Friends on Wednesday afternoon.