AVE MARIA, Fla.- The Ave Maria University men's basketball team paired a cold shooting night with deficits in the rebounding and turnover categories on Saturday, and dropped a 92-72 decision to the No. 20 Southeastern University Fire at the Tom Golisano Field House. Southeastern moved to 8-1 in Sun Conference play with the win, while the Gyrenes fell to 6-3 at the halfway point of the conference schedule.

AMU and Southeastern were in a tight battle for most of first ten minutes, as the game was tied at 19 with 11:21 on the clock. From there, the Fire went on an 18-4 run to take a 37-23 lead with 5:05 left, and never again trailed. Southeastern led 45-33 at the end of the first half, despite the Gyrenes cutting the Fire's lead to nine points with 4:31 on the clock.

Southeastern shot 50 percent from the field in the first half, while the Gyrenes posted a 37.8 percent mark. AMU was also hurt by a 4-for-20 mark from beyond the three-point arc. Stevan Krusevac led the way for the Gyrenes with 14 points, while Jovan Grujicic made all three of his field goal attempts to score six points. Blake Morrow was the top scorer for the visiting Fire, who scored 12 points.

In the second half, Southeastern pulled away from the Gyrenes, shooting 58.1 percent from the field. The Fire led by 26 points on two occasions in the final 20 minutes, led by Isaiah Moody's 12 points on six shots. Ave Maria shot better from long range, making eight of 18 three-point attempts.     Lucas Uzdavinis led that effort with three made triples, en route to a team-best eleven second half points.

The Gyrenes shot just 31.6 percent from three-point territory and 40 percent from the field, both of which were among the team's five lowest totals of the season. Conversely, Southeastern's 92 points and 53.8 overall shooting percentage ranked second and fourth among AMU opponents, respectively. Additionally, Southeastern outrebounded the Gyrenes 43-29, and forced 18 turnovers.

Off the bench, Krusevac was the leading scorer for the Gyrenes, thanks to his 14 points in the first half. Leo Behrend added 13 points and a team-high seven rebounds, while Marcus Montalvo scored ten points in the losing effort. All six Southeastern players that played 20 minutes or more scored at least ten points, led by 22 points from Morrow. Double-doubles were logged by Riley Minx (14 points, 12 rebounds) and     Karl Jeanty (11 points, 11 rebounds)

Ave Maria sits in third place in The Sun Conference at the halfway point of the schedule with a 6-3 record. The next opponent for the Gyrenes will be the College of Coastal Georgia, who come to the Tom Golisano Field House on Thursday night. The game is a rematch of the 2019 Sun Conference Tournament Championship Game, and is set to tipoff at 7:30 p.m., or 30 minutes following the conclusion of the women's game between the two schools.