NORTH MIAMI, Fla. --- The Ave Maria men's basketball team fell to Johnson & Wales, 79-64, on Thursday night.
 
The Gyrenes opened the game with a three by Gianpaolo Riccio and a layup by Nemanja Brankov to take a quick 5-0 lead. With AMU in front 7-4, Johnson & Wales went on a 16-0 run to take a 20-7 advantage. The Wildcats maintained their double-digit lead into the break and led AMU 47-28 at the half.
 
Johnson & Wales held their largest lead of the game, 68-34, with 13 minutes to play before AMU got to within 15 points late in the game. The Wildcats went on to defeat AMU 79-64.
 
Riccio led AMU with 20 points on 5-of-12 shooting. He was 7-of-11 from the free throw line. Jonathan Simmons added 14 points while Jovan Grujicic and Brankov each tallied 11 points.
 
Ave Maria shot 40 percent from the field and were 4-of-21 from three.
 
Gino Fils-Aime and Nick Preradovic each had 25 points for Johnson & Wales. The Wildcats made nine threes and shot 52.5 percent.
 
The Gyrenes return to action on Saturday when they host Keiser at 4 p.m.