AVE MARIA, Fla.- The Ave Maria University men's basketball could not hold up under a scoring barrage from the Southeastern University Fire on Wednesday night, as the top-ranked team in The Sun Conference claimed a 106-75 victory at Donahue Gym. The Fire knocked down 18 three-pointers in the conference affair, overcoming a solid offensive effort from AMU that saw the Gyrenes make ten threes of their own. 

Southeastern never trailed on Wednesday night, and led by double figures for most of the final 34 minutes of the contest. The Fire led by as many as 20 points in the first half, holding a 41-21 edge with 7:34 on the clock. The Gyrenes did have a flurry in them, outscoring SEU 14-3 over the next four-plus minutes to cut the lead back to nine. However, Southeastern responded with an 11-2 run, and eventually took a 14-point lead to halftime.

Any hope of an AMU rally was shut down early in the second half, as the Fire started the frame on a 13-3 run to widen their lead to 24 points. The Southeastern lead would not dip below 17 points for the remainder of the contest, and would balloon as wide as 36. After hitting nine three-pointers in the first half, the Fire followed with nine more in the final 20 minutes, hitting 55.6 percent of their total field goal attempts.

Six different Southeastern players made at least two three-pointers on Wednesday, led by four each from Riley Matticks and Reggie Mesidor. The Fire shot 53.5 percent from the field, and their 18 three-pointers on 37 attempts marked a 48.6 percent effort from long distance. Offensively, the Gyrenes shot 43.3 percent from the field, and made ten of 25 three-point tries for a 40 percent mark.

Jose Sanchez had his best game of the season against Southeastern, scoring 21 points on 25 minutes off the bench. He was one of three Gyrenes in double figures, and one of two do so off the bench. The other reserve was Chosen Levarity, who made the most of his eight minutes by scoring 12 points, connecting on all five of his shots. Eric Klekas rounded out the trio with ten points.

Another conference game awaits the Gyrenes on Saturday, as Ave Maria will head to Babson Park for their second meeting of the season with the Webber International University Warriors. AMU was victorious in the first battle of the season, winning 71-49 at Donahue Gym on November 11. Tipoff in Babson Park is scheduled for 4:00 p.m.