WEST PALM BEACH, Fla.- The Ave Maria University men's basketball team finally solved the riddle of beating the Keiser University Seahawks on the road Thursday night, earning a 78-73 win in West Palm Beach in The Sun Conference Game of the Week. The Gyrenes had not won at Keiser in their previous 12 tries, and rallied from a 17-point second half deficit to move to 5-2 in Sun Conference play.
For the first seven minutes of the game, the teams were evenly matched, with neither team leading by more than three points. Keiser took control from there, going on a 12-2 run over the next three minutes to take a 25-15 lead. The Keiser lead would remain for the rest of the half, never dipping below four points and growing as large as eleven. After that eleven-point lead, AMU would hit two free throws to provide the halftime score of 45-36.
Keiser continued to grow the lead in the first five minutes of the second half, eventually taking a 59-42 lead with 14:59 left on a layup from Core'von Lott. Down 17 with 13:51 to play, the Gyrenes mounted their comeback. In less than five minutes, the Gyrenes went on a 21-0 run, which saw AMU hit five three-pointers. That run gave the Gyrenes the lead for good, as AMU built their lead to nine with 1:27 on the clock.
The Seahawks would have one last rally in them, scoring on three straight possessions to cut the AMU lead down to two, 75-73, with 56 seconds left. Needing a score to keep the lead, the Gyrenes turned to Eric Klekas, who drilled his sixth three-pointer of the second half from several feet beyond the three-point line. Klekas' three with 25 seconds left was the dagger, as Keiser could not score on their next trip down the floor.
Ave Maria's three-point shooting was the difference in the conference win, as the Gyrenes made 14 of their 24 attempts from long distance. This was especially prevalent in the second half, where AMU missed just three of eleven three-points, good for a 72.7 percent mark.
AMU's comeback was keyed by Eric Klekas, who hit six three-pointers in the second half en route to a game-high 22 points. Chayse Culpepper added 16 points, while Lucas Uzdavinis scored ten points off the bench and led the Gyrenes with seven rebounds. Elsewhere, Daryl Lewis snagged seven steals on the defensive end, tying for fourth most in a single game in school history.
With the win, the Gyrenes remain alone in second place in The Sun Conference, just one game behind first place and nationally ranked Southeastern. Next on the schedule for the Gyrenes is Warner University, who will visit Donahue Gym on Saturday afternoon, with tipoff scheduled for 4:00 p.m. The Royals, currently fourth in the SUN, are one of two teams that are just one game behind AMU in the loss column in the conference standings.
