AVE MARIA, Fla. --- After trailing by 10 at the half, the Ave Maria men's basketball team's second half rally came up just short as AMU fell to the visiting Fire 91-87. Both AMU and Southeastern sit at 4-9 in conference play.
 
Four Gyrenes finished in double-figures scoring led by Deonte Dixon with 21 points. Caelen Watts added 19 points while Exor Torres and Josh Flowers finished with 17 points and 16 points, respectively.
 
Ave Maria shot 51 percent for the game and made 63 percent of their shots in the second half. The Gyrenes finished 7-of-22 from three. Southeastern shot 48 percent from the field but made nine more from the charity stripe than AMU.
 
CJ Reese led the Fire with 25 points, 10 rebounds, and seven assists. Four other Fire athletes finished in double-figures.
 
Southeastern built an early lead and led for most of the opening half. Southeastern took their largest lead in the opening minutes of the second half, 15 with 18:08, to play in the second. After a couple timeouts by AMU, the Gyrenes began to chip away at the Fire lead and pulled to within four midway through the half.
 
AMU kept within striking distance of the Fire for the remainder of the game but weren't able to pull closer than three points.
 
The Blue and Green return to action on Thursday when they welcome St. Thomas to the Tom Golisano Fieldhouse