WEST PALM BEACH, Fla.- The Ave Maria University men's basketball team went cold on Saturday afternoon, and fell by a 69-56 score to the Seahawks of Keiser University. The Gyrenes shot just 16 percent from three point territory and barely better than 30 percent from the field to fall to 8-5 in Sun Conference play with five games to go.

Despite making just two three-pointers in the first half, the Gyrenes trailed by just five points heading into the halftime break, 33-28. Keiser raced out to a 16-2 lead in the first eight and a half minutes, as AMU missed seven of their first eight shots. Ave Maria controlled the pace for much of the remainder of the half, outscoring the Seahawks by 12 points to get the deficit back to two points. A three-pointer from Andrija Matic with three seconds left in the half stretched the Keiser lead to five.

Nemanja Brankov kept the Gyrenes in the game in the opening 20 minutes, making five of his seven shots to log a team-high 12 points. AMU's only three-pointers of the half came from Leo Behrend and Malik Hall, who both came off the bench. Keiser' first half scoring was balanced, with three players - Matic, Jermar Perkins, and Marko Otic each scoring nine points.

The Gyrenes scored the first five points of the second half to tie the game for the final time before Keiser took over for good. After Ave Maria tied the game at 33 on a Romello Bates jumper, the Seahawks proceeded to score 12 unanswered points to take a 45-33 lead with 14:53 to play. From there, the Seahawk lead would never dip below ten points, and got as big as 16 points as Keiser earned the season sweep.

Behrend led the Gyrenes with 17 points, scoring ten of those points from the free throw line. Bates added eleven points while Brankov recorded a double-double with ten points and 12 rebounds. As a team, the Gyrenes made only four of 25 three-point attempts. Matic was the game's leading scorer, logging 26 points and adding eight rebounds and six assists. Perkins was also in double figures, posting 17 points.

With three weeks to go in The Sun Conference season, the Gyrenes currently sit tied for third with Keiser at 8-5, although the Seahawks hold the tiebreaker. The team's next game comes in one week's time, when the No. 13 Southeastern University Fire come to town.  Southeastern currently is in first place in the conference with an 11-2 record. Tipoff in the critical matchup is scheduled for 4:00 p.m. at the Tom Golisano Field House.