WALESKA, Ga. — The Ave Maria Men's Basketball team faced their first team to receive votes in the NAIA Preseason Poll Sunday afternoon as they took on the Johnson Royals. Despite the tougher competition, the Gyrenes showed why they were ranked 15^th in the poll as they beat the Royals 89-82.

The opening nine minutes of the game were pretty even between the two squads. Jack Watkins hit the opening basket for either team with a layup, but Johnson responded with a three-pointer to take the lead. The lead seesawed between the two for a good bit before two Johnson free throws tied the game at 19.

Following the two shots from the charity stripe for the Royals, Jonathan Effertz hit a three to put the Gyrenes up 22-19. Ave Maria did not trail for the rest of the half as they stayed in front for the last 11 minutes. The Gyrenes led by as many as 12 points towards the end of the frame. Johnson cut that lead in half before the break, but AMU still went into the locker room up 46-40.

At the start of the second half, the Gyrenes ripped off a 7-0 run to hit their largest lead of the night at 13 points. Ave Maria hit that margin a couple of times later in the half, but Royals clawed their way back.

Around the halfway point of the frame, Johnson went on an 11-0 run to take a 72-71 lead. It was their only advantage of the half, but enough to put the pressure back on the Gyrenes.

Johnson held the lead four about a minute and a half before a layup from Effertz put AMU back in front. The Gyrenes fended off the Royals for the final seven minutes, hitting their free throws to put the game out of reach.

Two Gyrenes scored over 20 points with Effertz leading the team at 23 and Michael Klekas right behind him with 21. Watkins and Marlon Bennett also hit double digits with 15 and 13 points, respectively. Bennett was the only player off the bench to hit double figures.

Alex Sherwood led the team down low with nine rebounds.

With the win, Ave Maria improves to 5-0 to start the season and ends their time in the Reinhardt Classic with a record of 2-0.

The Gyrenes have one more game on the road before finally opening their home season. That final road game is Tuesday, November 11, when Ave Maria will make the trip up to Temple Terrace to take on the Florida College Falcons. Florida College will play two other Sun Conference teams, Webber and New College, before taking on the Gyrenes. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. and the game will be streamed live on Florida College's YouTube channel.