LAKE WALES, Fla.- The Ave Maria University men's basketball team took down the 23rd ranked team in the nation on Thursday night, claiming a 98-93 victory over the Warner University Royals in overtime. The victory kept Ave Maria's hopes of a regular season Sun Conference championship alive, as the Gyrenes moved just one game behind the Royals with three games to play in the regular season. With the win, the Gyrenes dealt Warner their first home loss this season.
The Gyrenes came out on fire, shooting 69 percent from the field and 57.1 percent from three-point territory in the opening 20 minutes. Ave Maria twice led by 13 points, holding leads of 26-13 and 30-17. Warner cut into the AMU lead before halftime, though, getting the lead down to four with 1:09 to play. The final bucket of the half belonged to the Gyrenes, as a three-pointer from Fernando Salsamendi gave Ave Maria a 48-41 halftime lead.
Ave Maria scored the first six points of the second half, again taking a 13 point lead of 54-41. From there, Warner went on a 34-15 run to swing the game in their direction, leading 75-69 with 6:17 left. However, the Gyrenes would not go away, battling back to tie the game on a Jose Sanchez layup with 32 seconds left. Chayse Culpepper forced a turnover with two seconds left, but AMU's last-second heave fell short, sending the game to overtime.
In overtime, the lead changed hands four times, with AMU holding a 91-90 lead with 2:57 left. Fernando Salsamendi proceeded to knock down a three-pointer with 1:35 left to extend the lead to four, then the Gyrenes got back-to-back stops to keep the lead intact. The Gyrenes made four free throws in the final 20 seconds to ensure no comeback attempt from the Royals.
Both teams had solid offensive games, with both the Gyrenes and Royals making 12 three-pointers. AMU shot 56.7 percent from the field, 48 percent from three-point territory, and made ten of its 12 free throw attempts. Warner, on the other hand, shot 46.6 percent from the field, 37.5 percent from three-point territory, and made 13 of 16 free throw attempts.
Each team had five players in double figures, led by Salsamendi's game high 23 points. Eric Klekas added 21 points, while both Culpepper and Matt Gillis had 15 points. Lucas Uzdavinis rounded out AMU's quintet with 12 points. Warner's top scorers were Rod Boggan and Logan West, who both scored 19 points. Darryl Mercer (17), Joseph Martz (14), Josh Glesil (12) were the other three top scorers for the Royals.
With the win, Ave Maria remains in the hunt for the first regular season conference title in program history. AMU will need to win out, and get one Warner loss, to earn a share of the title. First, the Gyrenes will need to solve the riddle that is the Webber International University Warriors, who have beaten the Gyrenes twice already this season. Tipoff at the Rhodora J. Donahue Academy gymnasium is scheduled for 4:00 p.m.
