MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. --- The Ave Maria men's basketball team shot nearly 60 percent from the field and made 17 threes en route to a 85-79 win at Florida Memorial on Thursday night. The win was their first in conference play this season.
 
The 17 made threes in the game is the second most for AMU in school history. The record for an AMU men's basketball team is 18 against Sterling on Dec. 17, 2016.
 
Gianpaolo Riccio led AMU with 29 points and four rebounds in 18 minutes of play. Jonathan Simmons was a perfect 6-for-6 from the field including going 5-for-5 from behind the arc. He finished with 17 points. Jovan Grujicic added 13 points and seven rebounds while Greenan Sullivan tallied 11 points.
 
Florida Memorial led to start the game before a 13-0 run by the Gyrenes highlighted by three threes gave the Blue and Green a 34-22 edge with just over five minutes to play.
 
Leading by nine at the half, Riccio and Sullivan each made a three to start the second to quickly extend the AMU advantage to 15. The Gyrenes continued to live by the three and back-to-back treys by Simmons midway through the half gaeve AMU its largest lead of the game at 63-45.
 
The Lions wouldn't go away and also caught fire from behind the arc to bring the AMU lead down to two with less than two minutes to play. With 38 seconds to play and the Gyrenes up 79-77, Riccio hit the dagger on a three ball to put the Blue and Green up five.
 
Ave Maria returns to action on Saturday when they head back to Miami Gardens to take on #14 St. Thomas.