AVE MARIA, Fla.- The Ave Maria University men's basketball team hung around for the majority of the game, but ran out of gas in a 79-59 loss to the No. 11 Southeastern University Fire on Saturday at the Tom Golisano Field House. Southeastern moved to 5-0 in Sun Conference play, while the Gyrenes dropped their fifth conference matchup.

Early in the contest, the Gyrenes and Fire traded the lead on numerous occasions, with Ave Maria holding leads of 5-4 and 7-6. Southeastern opened up the game with a 7-0 run, and took a 17-10 lead with 11:01 to play in the first half. Ave Maria battled back to within three, 29-26, with 5:24 to go in the half, but a 15-8 stretch to end the half gave the Fire a 44-34 lead entering halftime. 

Trailing by 12 early in the second half, the Gyrenes scored six points in 13 seconds to pull within six. Ave Maria would get as close as four points in the second half, trailing 54-50 with 12:16 to play. From that point, Southeastern outscored the Gyrenes 25-9 to secure their fifth win in conference play.

Eight players scored ten points or more in the game, with four players on each team hitting the mark. For Ave Maria, Greenan Sullivan, Josh Flowers, and Jovan Grujicic all scored 11 points, while Stevan Krusevac added ten. Grujicic added eight rebounds, coming just two rebounds short of a double-double.

Southeastern's Ryan Atkins and Isaac Barsh led all scorers with 21 points, and Barsh added ten rebounds to record a double-double of his own. CJ Reese scored 15 points, and Grant Bryant logged 12 points in the victory.

The Gyrenes are out of conference play for the remainder of the calendar year. The out-of-conference slate picks up on Friday, when Ave Maria faces Shawnee State from Ohio in a neutral site game in Kissimmee. Game time is scheduled for 6:00 p.m.