HIALEAH, Fla. --- The Ave Maria men's basketball team fell to Florida National, 83-59, on Tuesday night. The Conquistadors came out firing from three, making seven from deep in the first half, to put AMU in an early hole that the Gyrenes weren't able to recover from.
 
Brandon Dean led the Gyrenes in scoring, tallying 22 points on the night. He also had four rebounds and three steals. Martez Harris also finished in double-figures with 10 points. Nate Krimsky finished with a team-high seven rebounds.
 
Three Conquistadors finished with 14 points. Alvaro Simoza recorded 14 points and 15 rebounds. Marcus Morrison also finished with a double-double for FNU with 14 points and 10 rebounds.
 
Ave Maria shot 32.3 percent from the field and were just 3-of-20 from behind the arc. Florida National finished 34-of-72 from the field and made nine of their 25 attempts from three. The Conquistadors outrebounded the Gyrenes 48-31. Both teams had their struggles handling the ball, with AMU turning the ball over 26 times compared to 28 by FNU.
 
AMU kept with Florida National early and had a 10-8 lead 14:18 mark in the first half before back-to-back threes by FNU put the Conquistadors up 14-10. With Ave trailing by five, 23-18, Florida National went on a 24-4 run over the final 7:31 of the half to take a 47-22 lead into the break. FNU made four threes during that run.
 
Florida National continued to shoot the ball well in the second half, extending their lead to 35, 60-25, five minutes in. The Gyrene made one final push, cutting the deficit to 19, 60-41, with 10:36 to play but weren't able to get any closer, eventually falling 83-59.
 
The Gyrenes return to the court on Friday night when they travel to West Palm Beach to take on Palm Beach Atlantic. The game is schedule to tip at 7 p.m.