AVE MARIA, Fla. --- The Ave Maria men's basketball team survived a second-half rally by the visiting Thomas University Night Hawks to come away with an 83-77 win on Thursday night. Brandon Dean hit six treys en route to a career-high 24 points to lead the way for the Blue and Green.
 
The Gyrenes improve to 11-15 overall and to 4-11 in TSC play with the win. Thomas drops to 17-8 overall and to 8-7 against TSC opponents.
 
Dean made his first three attempts from behind the arc and scored 17 of his 24 points in the first half. Five of his six threes came in the opening stanza. He also grabbed five rebounds. Wendell Powell and Exor Torres each came away with 17 points. Powell added seven boards while Torres was a perfect 12-for-12 from the free throw line. Jelani Bonner had another solid performance, scoring 11 points and pulling in six rebounds.
 
The Gyrenes shot 56.1 percent from the field (23-of-41) and 77.8 percent from the charity stripe (28-of-26). Thomas shot 53.8 percent from the floor and made 12 from behind the arc. The Gyrenes shot 19 more free throws than the Night Hawks (28-9).
 
Rodnie Sturkie led Thomas with 22 points followed by Max Grace and Alan Love who recorded 19 points and 16 points, respectively.
 
Ave Maria came out firing, making four of their first six shots, three of which came from behind the arc by Dean to put AMU out in front 11-7. The Gyrene offense continued to get baskets to drop and the defense stepped up in the final eight minutes of the half to spark a 21-5 run to increase a two-point AMU lead, 20-18, to a 41-23 halftime score.
 
As a team, the Gyrenes made 8-of-13 from three in the first half.
 
The Blue and Green looked to have things in control in the second half, extending their lead to 25, 61-36 with 8:24 remaining in the game, before Thomas made its run.
 
Thomas made three consecutive from behind the arc to cut the lead down to 18, 63-45. A few minutes later, the Night Hawks made four consecutive baskets, three of which were threes, to pull with four, 69-65. A couple free throws by Powell snapped a 20-6 run by Thomas.
 
Thomas wouldn't get any close, as AMU took care of business from the free throw line down the stretch to close out the 83-77 victory.
 
The Gyrenes return to action on Saturday when they travel to Lakeland, Fla., to take on Southeastern. The game is scheduled to tip at 4 p.m.