AVE MARIA, Fla. --- The Ave Maria men's basketball team fell to the visiting Warner Royals on Thursday night, 62-49. The Gyrene defense continued its strong play, holding the Royals to 16 points below their season average, but the AMU offense wasn't able to keep up with Warner late.
 
The Gyrenes currently sit at 8-11 overall and the Blue and Green are 1-7 against Sun Conference opponents.  Ave Maria will hit the road this weekend when they head to Thomasville, Ga., to take on Thomas University on Saturday night.
 
Jelani Bonner recorded a double-double for the Gyrenes with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Joseph Guernsey chipped in eight points and grabbed five boards. Wendell Powell and Eric Richardson also added eight points for the Blue and Green.
 
The Gyrenes shot 37.2 percent from the field and were 5-of-22 from three. They had 22 turnovers compared to 17 by Warner.
 
Eddie Delegal lead three Royals in double-figures with 19 points. Warner shot 47.5 percent from the field and made seven from behind the arc.
 
AMU trailed by single digits for the entire first half and were able to tie the game on several occasions but weren't able to take a lead. The Blue and Green went into the break trailing 22-20.
 
Warner pushed the lead to 10, 33-23, early in the second quarter. The Gyrenes cut it back to single digits but weren't able to get any closer than five points, eventually falling by 13, 62-49.