AVE MARIA, Fla. --- The Ave Maria men's basketball team fell, 68-63, in double overtime to the 24th-ranked Southeastern Fire on Thursday night. The Blue and Green were led by Jelani Bonner who recorded a double-double with 22 points and 11 boards.
 
The Gyrenes return to the court on Saturday night when they travel to Florida Memorial for an 8:30 p.m. tip. The game will be played at Barry University.
 
Bonner finished the night 11-of-17 from the floor. He also tallied three assists and two steals to go with his 22 points and 11 rebounds. Exor Torres and Joseph Guernsey each chipped in 12 points. Julian Adams added six points and six rebounds while Brandon Dean scored nine points for the Blue and Green.
 
Caleb Konieczny led Southeastern with 20 points while Timoth Mitchell posted 16 points and 14 rebounds. Larry Taylor aslo netted 16 points for the Fire.
 
Despite being outrebounded 28-24, the Gyrenes won the battle in the paint with 32 points compared to 19 from Southeastern. The Blue and Green's bench also chipped in with 11 points while Southeastern got all of its scoring from their starters.
 
Southeastern made three more shots then the Gyrenes from behind the arc and converted 15-of-16 from the charity stripe compared to 3-of-4 from the free throw line by the Blue and Green.
 
Ave Maria, who sports the top-ranked scoring defense in NAIA DII, held Southeastern to 13 points under its season average even with the two extra stanzas.
 
The Gyrenes came out a little slow and a few early three's from Southeastern put the Blue and Green in a 18-7 hole just over eight minutes into the game. AMU quickly battled back and a three by Julian Adams at the 8:58 mark capped a 9-0 run to bring Ave back to within 2, 18-16.
 
The teams went back-and-forth for the remainder of the half with Southeastern holding a 30-24 advantage at the break.
 
The Gyrenes again saw their deficit increase to double-figures early in the second half but chipped away at the Southeastern lead until they were able to take their first lead of the game, 39-38, on a Guernsey jumper with 10:34 remaining in the second half.
 
After a few lead changes, Southeastern led by six, 50-46 with less than a minute to play. With 21 seconds to play, Dean hit a three to bring AMU within one. After Southeastern made one-of-two at the free throw line, Bonner was able to drive the lane and lay one in to tie the game at 51-all and send the game to overtime.
 
In the first extra stanza, Dean and Southeastern's Konieczny exchanged trey's to tie the game for a fifth time. After a Bonner layup and a couple made free throws from the fire, the game was again tied and heading to a second extra frame.
 
In the second overtime, the team's again exchanged baskets to start resulting a a 61-61 stalemate. After Adams made a jumper to put AMU up two, the Fire hit a three to put Southeastern up one, 64-63. The Fire then made a jumper and a pair of free throws to close out the game, 68-63.