WALESKA, Ga. — The Ave Maria Men's Basketball team picked up right where they left off last year and hung 105 points in their first win of the season on a neutral court against the Point Skyhawks. The Gyrenes never trailed in their season opener, hitting the first shot of the night and never looking back.
The opening eight minutes could not have gone any better for the Gyrenes as they raced out to a 21-3 lead. Ave Maria hit eight of their 14 shots in the run, with four of them from downtown, all from four different shooters. Defensively, Ave Maria forced five turnovers with four steals.
After seven straight missed shots, Point finally got back on the board with a layup. The scored a few more points to go on a 6-0 run, but that was interrupted by a Noryen Lasley slam to reassert the Gyrene dominance in the game.
Both teams matched each other for the final ten minutes of the half and went into the break with Ave Maria up 49-33.
In the second half, the Gyrenes steadily grew their lead. Point hit the first basket to get with 14 points of the Gyrenes, but that was the closest the Skyhawks would ever get to Ave Maria.
The Gyrenes didn't go on any big runs like they did to open the game but played solid basketball without any cold spots to put up 56 points on their way to triple digits. Jonathan Effertz was the one to push Ave Maria over the century mark with a layup.
On the other end of the court, Point tried to get back into the game with three-pointers but went 1-14 behind the arc.
When the final buzzer sounded, the Gyrenes walked off the court victorious 105-74. It is the 35
th game in program history the Gyrenes have scored 100 or more points in a game. Ten of those games were last season, and Ave Maria is looking to match that number.
Individually, Michael Klekas led the team with 18 points, going 8-13 from the field. The junior from Nevada also registered a double-double with 16 rebounds. That is the seventh of his career, which ties him for the fifth most in program history.
Four other Gyrenes hit double figures with Effertz scoring 17, Miles Monchecourt scoring 16, Jack Watkins scoring 12 and Sean Gough scoring 11.
As a team, the Gyrenes hit 12 threes in the game. Effertz led the team with three buckets from downtown. Monchecourt and Mitchell Lee were the other Gyrenes with multiple three-pointers.
With the win, Ave Maria starts the 2024-25 campaign off 1-0.
The Gyrenes are back in action Saturday, November 2, as they close out their neutral site stay in Georgia against former Sun Conference rival Thomas Night Hawks. Thomas joined the Sun Conference 2013-14 and left after the 2022-23 season. In those 10 seasons, Ave Maria went 12-8 against the Night Hawks. They did not play last season in Thomas' first season as a member of the Southern States Athletic Conference.
Tipoff is set for noon and the game will be streamed live on Reinhardt University's YouTube channel.
