AVE MARIA, Fla. — The Ave Maria Men's Basketball team put on an offensive clinic in the second half in the 101-68 win over the Webber Warriors. After a pretty modest first half, the Gyrenes put up 62 points in the final 20 minutes to hit triple figures for the seventh time this season.
Webber only led for three minutes in the first half, yet Ave Maria had trouble getting some separation from the Warriors. The Gyrenes had a couple of 8-0 runs in the opening frame, but both were followed by Webber going on a bit of a streak to get back in the game.
Heading into the break, the Gyrenes had just a seven point lead on the Warriors, leading 39-32.
Ave Maria got back into their groove in the second half and started to pour on the points early in the frame. After an opening bucket from Webber, the Gyrenes went on a 10-0 run to increase their lead to 15 points.
The Gyrenes continued to light up the scoreboard using their greatest strength, the three pointer. After going just 4-for-24 in the first half, Ave Maria 11 out of the 18 shot attempts from downtown in the closing frame. Jonathan Effertz led the way, hitting three shots from behind the arc in the second half. Jack Poirier and Miles Monchecourt also nailed multiple threes in the half.
AMU hit 90 points with just under four minutes left to play and the game, and the race against the clock to triple digits was on. The Gyrenes hit three threes to get to 99 and then it was two free throws from Mitchell Lee to push Ave Maria over the century mark give the Gyrenes a 101-68 win.
It is the seventh time this season the Gyrenes have scored 100 or more points, which is tied for the second most in the NAIA this season with Saint Xavier (IL). Since the start of last season, Ave Maria has hit triple digits in 17 games.
"Obviously we emphasize pace a ton. Like, make, miss, turnover, no matter what, we want to put pressure on the defense with how fast we can spread the scoring areas," said head coach Jamon Copeland on his team's ability to consistently hit triple digits. "And we play more of a motion offense, so like we are more read and react as opposed to their looking back over their shoulder at me and we are calling a set every time and that allows them to be in attack mode. So typically we are going to shoot it quick so we get more possessions…[and] we are going to shoot our first good shot in the first 10-15 seconds. And then this year we are pressing as well so we are generating more offense because of our defense."
With the win Ave Maria improves to 16-5 overall and 7-2 in conference play. Florida Memorial won their game Saturday as well, so the Gyrenes remain tied for first place in the Sun Conference.
Poirier led the team in scoring with a career-high 19 points. Four other Gyrenes hit double figures with Michael Klekas and Monchecourt both scoring 15, Effertz hitting 11 and Jack Watkins scoring 10. Fifteen points give Klekas 1,083 points all time as a Gyrene, passing his brother Eric for the fifth most points scored in program history.
The Gyrenes are on the road for their next game Wednesday, traveling north to Bradenton to take on the New College of Florida Mighty Banyans. Ave Maria has beaten New College twice since they started basketball last season, but Wednesday will be the first road game against them for the Gyrenes. Tipoff is set for 4 p.m, and the game will be streamed live on the Sun Digital Network.
