MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Tied at 82 and with no timeouts, sophomore transfer Jaylen White put the Gyrenes on his back, went down the floor and nailed a spin around jumper in the paint to give Ave Maria an 84-82 victory over the St. Thomas Bobcats. The Gyrenes led for most of the game, but St. Thomas hung around, forcing the late game heroics from White.
Coming off their worst three-point shooting performance in over two years, the long bombs were connecting early for the Gyrenes in Saturday's contest. Ave Maria hit five of their first six three-pointers to get out to a commanding lead early in the game. Just before the halfway mark of the opening frame, a White layup put AMU up 27-16, the largest lead of the game for either team.
However, the lead didn't last long. Five minutes later, the Bobcats capped a 15-4 run to tie the game at 31. From here, it was a much tighter game with neither team getting more than a two possession lead on the other for the rest of the afternoon.
Both teams scored ten points in the final minutes of the first half to go into the break tied at 41.
Coming out of the half, the two teams traded buckets and leads. Ave Maria hit four of their first five three-pointers in the second half, including three in a row that put them up by six five minutes into the frame.
Ave Maria held onto their multiple possession lead until the midway point of the half, but then the Bobcats went on a run to tie the game at 67.
With just a little over three minutes left in the game, Miles Monchecourt, who was having a monster day from behind the arc, hit his eighth and final three of the game to put the Gyrenes up 80-77. Eight threes in a game ties the season high for individual three pointers in a game, tying Jonathan Effertz's performance against Florida College.
Up 82-81 with 15 seconds left, Ave Maria fouled St. Thomas to send them to the free throw line with a chance to take the lead. The Bobcats missed the first free throw but made their second and started to prepare for overtime. However, the Gyrenes had other plans.
Nick Filchner inbounded to White who dribbled down the court, didn't see any open passes, drove into the lane, and hit the spin around jumper with just five seconds left on the clock to give Ave Maria the lead.
St. Thomas immediately called a timeout to draw up one more play which they were able to run, but couldn't connect on the layup as time expired.
Monchecourt led the team in scoring, hitting a season-high 29 points. The junior transfer was also responsible for eight of the team's 13 threes in the game. Joining him in the double figures club was White with 12 and Filcnher with 10.
With the win, Ave Maria improves 15-4 overall and 4-1 in conference play. Thanks to a Florida Memorial loss to Webber, the Gyrenes are now in sole possession of first place in the Sun Conference.
The Gyrenes return home for a two-game home stand, first against the Webber Warriors Wednesday, January 24. Webber sits in a five-way tie for fourth place in the Sun Conference with a 2-3 record. The home stand concludes with a Saturday game against the Coastal Georgia Mariners. Both games can be streamed on the Sun Digital Network.
