AVE MARIA, Fla. --- Leading by as many as eight late in the second half, the Ave Maria men's basketball team was unable to hold off a late rally by the University of the Virgin Islands as the Buccaneers topped the Gyrenes 74-71.
 
The two teams will return to the court for the second time on Sunday afternoon. The game is set to top at 4 p.m.
 
Transfer Gianpaolo Riccio led Ave Maria with 21 points and nine rebounds. Jonathan Simmons was 4-for-6 from three to finish with 15 points. Greenan Sullivan and Nemanja Brankov also finished in double-figures with 11 and 10 points, respectively.
 
Ave Maria shot 47.5 percent from the field but struggled from behind the arc, making eight of 27 attempts. They were 7-of-11 from the free throw line. UVI connected on 41 percent of their shots and nine threes. The Buccaneers were 15-of-28 from the foul stripe.
 
UVI held a 21-12 edge in turnovers and converted the 21 AMU turnovers to 18 points compared to 13 by AMU.
 
The back-and-forth game saw the score tied seven times and the lead change seven times. Neither team led by more than eight in the game.
 
Ave Maria trailed for most of the opening half but took a 25-23 lead with 6:36 to play on a Riccio layup. A few minutes later, an 8-0 run by the Gyrenes turned a one-point deficit into a 35-28 edge. The run was highlighted by threes by Simmons and Sullivan. A 13-2 run by UVI to end the half gave the Buccaneers a 41-37 lead going into the break.
 
Back-to-back threes by Simmons early in the second half gave AMU a three point lead, 50-47, just over four minutes into the second. The Gyrenes were able to maintain their lead for most of the second half before UVI tied the game at 69-69 with 1:18 to play. The Buccaneers took the lead with 32 seconds to play on a three by Josh Goss and made three of their four free throws in the final 10 seconds to hold off AMU.