AVE MARIA, Fla.- The Ave Maria University men's basketball team put together one of their most dominant performances of the season on Saturday evening, rolling to a 77-52 victory over the Thomas University Night Hawks at Donahue Gym. The victory moved Ave Maria's winning streak over Thomas to eight games, a streak that encompasses four full seasons. Similar to the second half on Thursday, the Gyrenes shot the ball extremely well, overwhelming a TU team that took down first place Southeastern on Thursday night.
Ave Maria never trailed on Saturday, and took less than six minutes to build a ten-point lead. Over the first 20 minutes, the Gyrenes' lead ballooned to 30 points, as AMU held a 46-16 lead on a Chayse Culpepper jumper with 1:44 to play. Thomas was able to chip their deficit down to 25 points by halftime.
In the opening half, AMU shot 65.5 percent from the field, and made 58.3 percent of their three-point attempts. Conversely, the Gyrenes held the Night Hawks to 25.7 percent shooting from the field and 23.1 percent shooting from long distance.
Any hope of Thomas battling back into the game was snuffed out in the first four minutes of the second half. The Gyrenes started the half on an 11-2 run, further increasing their lead to 34 points, 61-27. The commanding lead allowed the Gyrenes to empty their bench, as the AMU starters exited the game with little more than eight minutes left on the clock.
Despite cooling off in the second half, the Gyrenes still shot 55.2 percent from the field for the game. The efficiency was especially noticeable inside the arc, where Ave Maria made 23 of the 32 shots they took, good for a 71.8 percent mark. Defensively, Ave Maria held Thomas to a 28.1 percent mark from the field, and forced misses on 21 of 26 three-point tries, a 19.2 percent rating. The Gyrene defense also came up with ten steals on the day.
Daryl Lewis had a very efficient day, making nine of ten shots for a team-high 18 points. Eric Klekas made five of his six three-pointers to score 15 points, while Matt Gillis had 14 points with a team-best eight rebounds.
A nationally recognized team comes to Donahue Gym next, as the Gyrenes will host the Falcons of Florida College Tuesday night. Florida College is currently receiving votes in the newest NAIA Coaches' Poll. Ave Maria will look for retribution from the Falcons' 81-68 win in Temple Terrace back on November 23. Tipoff in the matchup, one of two non-conference games in the coming week for Ave Maria, is scheduled for 8:00 p.m. at Donahue Gym.
