AVE MARIA, Fla. — The Ave Maria University men's basketball team lost a close game to the St. Thomas Bobcats Saturday afternoon 82-77. The Gyrenes led for more than half the game, but St. Thomas grabbed a late lead and held on to win.
Ave Maria never trailed in the first half, scoring the first points of the game with a Jonathan Effertz three and leading the rest of the way. St. Thomas worked one three in the opening 20 minutes, but Ave Maria quickly hit a jumper to retake the lead on the next possession.
The first was near perfect basketball for the Gyrenes, hitting 54.5% of their shots from the field and going 7-for-13 from behind the arc. Ave Maria also gave up just two turnovers in the first half while forcing five from St. Thomas. The one stat the Bobcats were beating the Gyrenes in was rebounding, leading AMU 19-14, but the Gyrenes were making their shots to where it wasn't issue yet.
Michael Klekas hit a three in the final minute of the half to give Ave Maria a 43-36 lead into the break. The sophomore from Nevada was on fire in the opening frame, hitting nine shots, two from downtown, for 20 points.
In the second half, St. Thomas found their game and took a 52-50 lead five minutes into the frame. It was their first lead of the game.
From there, it was back and forth with neither team getting more than a five-point lead on the other. When one team took the lead, it only took the other a possession or two to respond and tie it up again.
With under two minutes left to play, St. Thomas took a 77-75 lead. Ave Maria could not covert on a free throw on their following possession and the Bobcats got the ball back. STU wound the clock down to under a minute on their next possession and then hit a three to take an 80-75 lead.
St. Thomas took a couple of shots and missed during that possession but got offensive rebounds to extend their time with ball. Rebounding troubles were present for the Gyrenes in the first half and even more so in the second half. In the final frame, St. Thomas had more offensive rebounds than the Gyrenes had defensive rebounds, 8-7, leading to 15 second chance-points for the Bobcats. On the other side of the court, AMU was held to zero offensive rebounds meaning they only had one look at the basket each possession.
With 38 seconds left to go, Nick Filchner sped down the court and got a layup to fall to bring it back to a three-point game. Ave Maria didn't foul on the Bobcats' final possession, instead electing to play defense in hopes of keeping it a one possession game. STU drained the clock down to seven seconds and hit a layup to ultimately seal the game 82-77. The Gyrenes tried one more three, but by time it reached the rim, the buzzer sounded ending the game.
Klekas finished the game as the leading scorer for the Gyrenes with 25 points. Effertz joined him in the 20-point club with 20 exactly. Ja-ck Watkins rounded out the double-digit scorers with 18 points.
With the loss, Ave Maria falls to 18-8 overall and 7-5 in conference play. The Gyrenes entered the day in a three-way tie for second place in the conference with Keiser and Florida Memorial. The Seahawks won their game on Saturday over the Warner Royals while Florida Memorial lost their game to the Webber Warriors. That puts Keiser in sole possession of second place and Ave Maria currently tied with Florida Memorial for third. FMU has the tiebreaker over the Gyrenes for the three seed in the conference tournament, putting Ave Maria currently in the four seed.
Saturday was the final home game of the regular season for the Gyrenes, finishing the year 7-4 at home and 4-3 in the newly renovated Tom Golisano Field House.
The Gyrenes close out the 2023-24 regular season with two games on the road, first up to Babson Park to take on the Webber Warriors Wednesday, February 21. Then it is up to Brunswick, Georgia, to play the Coastal Georgia Mariners in the season finale Saturday, February 24.
