AVE MARIA, Fla. — For the second time this season, the Ave Maria Gyrenes beat the Warner Royals by two points in overtime. Gyrenes walked off the court victorious 92-90 after fending off several comeback attempts from the Royals. The key to Gyrenes' success, making their free throws when it mattered, hitting 6-of-10 in the final 90 seconds of overtime.
The two teams started off streaky with Warner jumping out to a 7-0 lead and Ave Maria responding with an eight-point run of their own. Both teams went back and forth like that trading multiple possession leads in the first half. The best stretch for the Gyrenes was when Miles Monchecourt hit three trifectas in a row and then cashed in on a layup for 11 straight points. Warner only scored three points in that stretch shooting Ave Maria out to a 23-19 lead.
The Gyrenes' largest lead of the half was nine points, but the Royals erased that deficit towards the end of the frame with a 16-5 run to take a 40-38 lead. After a three-point play for Warner from a bucket and foul, Jaylen White knocked down a layup to make it a one possession game at the half, 43-40 in favor of the Royals.
The Royals kept their lead for a good bit in the beginning of the second half. The Gyrenes were always within five of Warner during that time but didn't tie the game until a Monchecourt free throw knotted the score up at 56. It continued to be a back and forth game with five lead changes in the span of five minutes.
The final lead change in that time frame went in the Gyrenes' favor as a White three put Ave Maria on top 67-66. AMU then went on an 11-2 run to get back out to another nine-point lead with three and a half minutes left to play in the game. Unfortunately, this lead, like the rest, was not safe.
Slowly, but surely, Warner crawled their way back into the game. In the final second of the game, Ave Maria got called for a foul sending the Royals to the free throw line for a one-and-one free throw opportunity down 81-80. Skyler Scull hit his first free throw to tie the game but missed the second for a chance at the win. The horn buzzed with the score tied at 81 and the two teams headed to overtime for the second time this season.
In the extra period, the Royals scored the first four points to get a two-possession lead on the Gyrenes.
A couple of minutes later, after trading shots and free throws to keep Warner on top by four points, Jonathan Effertz hit his first three of the game to bring the Gyrenes within one 87-86. On the next possession, he was fouled and made one free throw to tie the game.
The rest of Ave Maria's points would come from the charity stripe with Jack Watkins hitting two and Michael Klekas hitting three in the final minute Ave Maria up 92-89 with five seconds left.
With a three-point lead, head coach Jamon Copeland felt comfortable fouling the Royals in the final seconds, forcing them to hit a free throw, then miss, get a rebound, and make a shot to tie. Warner did hit the first free throw, but on the ensuing missed free throw, Jai White got the defensive rebound to win the game for the Gyrenes, 92-90.
"I've lost both ways," said Copeland after the game thinking about the decision to foul. "More has got to go right for the other team the fouling way. So, we wanted to foul, we subbed Jai in to go rebound it, and he did a great job, he carved out space and he got it."
Monchecourt led the team in scoring with 25 points off the bench, hitting six threes to get there. Jaylen White joined him in the 20-point club with 20 exactly, also off the bench.
"There's really nobody on our team, you can say 'Hey, we're not going to guard him,'" said Copeland on the versatility of his team. "We got a lot of guys that can on any given night have a big night."
Watkins with 12 and Klekas with 11 rounded out the double figure scorers for the Gyrenes.
As a team, Ave Maria hit 14 threes in the game, two above their game average. They now have 292 total trifectas on the year, the third most in program history.
Ave Maria improves to 18-5 overall and 7-2 in conference play. They remain on top of the standings in first place, one game ahead of the 6-3 St. Thomas Bobcats who defeated the #17 Florida Memorial Lions on Wednesday.
The Gyrenes will stay home for their next game, hosting the Keiser Seahawks Saturday, February 10. AMU posted a 50-point second half in their first meeting with the Seahawks to cruise to a 95-80 victory. Monchecourt was the leading scorer in that game as well off the bench with 23 points. Tip-off is set for 4 p.m. and will be broadcast on the Sun Digital Network.
