AVE MARIA, Fla. — In one of the lowest combined scoring games of the season for the Gyrenes, the Ave Maria defense stepped up and won a physical game over the Southeastern Fire 81-71. With the win, Ave Maria advances on to the Sun Conference semifinals to take on the two seeded Florida Memorial Lions.
It took a while for both teams to rev up, with the scoreboard only showing 4-2 after five minutes of play. Right around the six-minute mark, Jack Watkins hit the first three of the game for either team and that got the game going.
Southeastern responded with a 6-0 run to take an 8-7 lead, but that would be their last lead of the night. Immediately on the other end, Miles Monchecourt hit a layup to put Ave Maria back up by one and the Gyrenes never looked back.
The three pointers started to fall for AMU around then and the Gyrenes finished with six on the half. The final trifecta was a walk-off, transition three from Jonathan Effertz to put the Gyrenes up 38-26 at the break.
The second half had a slow start as well, with Ave Maria going on a 7-2 run in the first five minutes of the frame. The scoring started to pickup following the first media timeout, and the Gyrenes played with a double-digit lead for most of the second half. AMU's biggest lead of the game came right before the midway point, leading 54-36.
Southeastern slowly crept back into the game and started to pour on the pressure in the final ten minutes. However, with about seven minutes left to go, the Fire was dealt a huge blow. Following a collision under the basket, starting guard Sean Shore was ejected from the game off a flagrant-2 foul for kicking Nick Filchner in the head. Shore had played in all 27 games of the regular season for the Fire and had the second most minutes on the team. Losing him for the final seven minutes of the game put Southeastern in a tough spot.
The Fire fought their way back though and made it a two-possession ballgame with two minutes left on the clock. Following a couple turnovers, Effertz hit his second three of the night to bring the Gyrene lead back up to nine and Ave Maria held on from there. The two teams exchanged free throws and layups in the final minute and the Gyrenes walked off the court victorious 81-71.
Ave Maria finished the game with 12 threes increasing their season total to 359. Watkins and Michael Klekas were the leading three-point shooters with three each.
Watkins also led the team in scoring with 19 points. Three other guys joined him double digits with Klekas at 17, Effertz at 14, and Filchner at 12.
Tuesday night was the final home game for the Gyrenes at the newly renovated Tom Golisano Field House. The rest of the game for Ave Maria will all be at neutral sites. AMU finishes the year 8-4 at home and 5-3 in the new gym.
"It's sad that this is our last one of the year because…we have the best fans in the league, and it's not close. And it is not a knock to any other school, but our fans are incredible, it is an incredible atmosphere, and just a huge advantage for us," said head coach Jamon Copeland. "So, fans, from the bottom of our heart, thank you and we will try to make you proud with our effort and how we represent the university."
Overall, the Gyrenes improve to 21-8 on the year.
With the win, Ave Maria advances to the Final Four in the Sun Conference Tournament, which will be hosted by the regular season champion St. Thomas Bobcats in Maimi Gardens, Florida. As the three seed, the Gyrenes will take on the two seeded Florida Memorial Lions. Both the Gyrenes and the Lions finished tied for second place with a 9-5 record, but FMU had the tiebreaker due to winning both games of the season series. Ave Maria will need to conquer their white whale of the season to advance to the championship game. The semifinal game will be Friday, March 1, with tipoff set for 7:30 p.m. The game will be streamed live on the Sun Digital Network.
