AVE MARIA, Fla. — In what has become a tradition over the past couple of years, the Ave Maria Men's Basketball team rewrote the history books Wednesday night and recorded the third highest-scoring game in program history with their 124-79 win over the Florida National Conquistadors. Seven different shooters hit double figures for the Gyrenes, which is the most since November 25, 2024, when the Gyrenes had eight shooters with 10 or more points against Trinity Baptist.

The first half got off to a rocky start as Florida National led for most of the opening five minutes. The Gyrenes led briefly after an opening three-pointers from Marlon Bennett and Michael Klekas, but the Conquistadors hit a few shots in a row and led up to the first media timeout.

That all changed around the midway point of the first half as the Gyrenes ripped off a 10-0 run to go from down two points to up by eight. The run started with three straight free throws from Jonathan Effertz and ended with a dunk from Alex Sherwood which put the Gyrenes up three possessions on FNU.

Florida National got within five points a few minutes later, but that is as close the game would be for the rest of the game. Ave Maria scored 31 points in the final nine minutes to take a 57-42 lead into the break. The Gyrenes knocked down 10 three-pointers in the first half, shooting near 60% from behind the arc.

The second half was more of the same for the Gyrenes as they grew their lead over the final 20 minutes. Ave Maria continued to shoot the ball well, hitting seven of their first 10 shots from the field, but focused more inside the arc in the second half as opposed to shooting three-pointers.

AMU broke the century-mark with a little over seven minutes left to play and all of a sudden, it turned into a race against the clock for the Gyrenes. Ave Maria scored 23 points in the final seven minutes, to finish with 124 points and beat FNU by 45. AMU scored 67 points total in the second half, the fourth highest-scoring frame in school history.

For the whole game, Wednesday was the third highest scoring game in program history, passing the 122-point game against Trinity Baptist from 2024. It is the second time this season the Gyrenes have hit triple digits and the 20^th game in the past three years since Ave Maria gained the reputation as a high-scoring team. Since the first game of the 2023-24 season, over a quarter of those games have seen the Gyrenes score 100 or more points.

Individually, seven shooters hit double figures. Klekas led the team with a season-high 25 points. Joining him in double digits were Effertz with 17, Bennett with 13, Mitchell Lee with 13, Jai White with 13, Bradley Michel with 11 and Sherwood with 10. It was a season high for White and career highs for both Lee and Michel.

As a team, the Gyrenes tallied 16 three-pointers, matching their season-high from their win against Tennessee Southern in the NAIA "The Show" Classic just a week prior.

"We love to play with pace, we love a fast paced game, and we feel it's advantage us when it's a fast paced game," said head coach Jamon Copeland on the Gyrene post-game show. "Anytime we are unselfish, we typically get a good shot. So if we just commit to moving it and as soon as we engage that second defender coming off it, we got them in domino at that point and then it's just decision making, find the open man and when you are open, for us, we want our guys to really shoot it with confidence, let it fly, and then we are going to go crash and get that thing back."

With the win, Ave Maria improves to 11-1 overall and 2-0 at home. The Gyrenes are tied with two other schools, Campbellsville (Ky.) and Freed-Hardeman for the most wins in the NAIA with 11.

The Gyrenes are back home at the Tom Golisano Field House Friday, December 5, when they play host to the Florida College Falcons. Ave Maria has already beat the Falcons once this season, winning 108-85. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m. and will be the grand conclusion to the Hometown Christmas Parade in Ave Maria. For those who can't make it to town for all the festivities, the game will be streamed live on the Urban Edge Network.