MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — The Ave Maria Men's Basketball got back in the win column Wednesday night, beating the St. Thomas Bobcats 87-72. Ave Maria hit eight three-pointers and scored 56 points in the opening frame to get out to a big 25-point lead at halftime.

The Gyrenes came out firing in the first half, jumping out to a 13-4 lead just four and a half minutes into the game. Ave Maria was 6-for-8 from the field, and only one of those was a three. The other five baskets were inside the arc and mostly in the paint.

Once Ave Maria had established a good lead, then they started letting it fly from downtown. The Gyrene hit eight threes in the first off 13 attempts, posting a shooting percentage of 61.5%.

The longest run for the Gyrenes came in the midway point of the first half as Ave Maria outscored St. Thomas 14-0 in two and half minutes. The Gyrenes went 6-for-6 from the field, two from downtown and forced four turnovers on the other side of the floor. Jack Watkins punctuated the run with a layup that gave Ave Maria a 28-point lead at 43-15.

AMU kept the pressure up for the rest of the half and a Nick Filchner three in the last minute gave the Gyrenes their halftime lead of 56-31.

Ave Maria cruised in the second half as their lead was never threatened by the Bobcats. The closest St. Thomas got was 10 points within the Gyrenes responded with an 11-0 run to get back up to a 21-point lead.

Ave Maria hit three more threes in the second half to get up to 11 on the game. It is the 22^nd game this season the Gyrenes have hit double digits in threes, and they lead the NAIA with 334 trifectas on the year.

When the final buzzer sounded, Ave Maria walked off the court with an 87-72 win.

Filchner led the team in scoring with 17 points, going 5-for-8 from downtown. Five three-pointers ties a season for any Gyrene this season, and the first time since Jack Porier hit five against Keiser in January. Four more Gyrenes hit double digits with Miles Monchecourt at 16, Jonathan Effertz at 15, Jaylen White at 12 and Watkins at 10.

With the win, Ave Maria improves to 12-3 in conference play and 21-6 overall. Elsewhere in the conference, Keiser defeated Florida Memorial 75-57 to move to 13-2 and keep their hold on first place.

FMU falls to 12-4 and is done in league play. Ave Maria has sole possession of second place. If the Gyrenes win Saturday in the regular season finale and the Seahawks lose, the two teams would end the year as Co-Regular Season Champions. If both Keiser and Ave Maria win, the Gyrenes will finish in second place. If the Gyrenes lose, they will end the year tied for second with Florida Memorial and the Lions would have the tiebreaker dropping the Gyrenes to third seed in the conference tournament. Still a lot to play for in the final game of the regular season.

That final game is Saturday, February 22, against the Southeastern Fire. The Fire are currently in fourth place in the standings at 8-7. It is Senior Day for the Gyrenes, who will be saluting the six seniors on the roster. Senior Day festivities will take place right after the women's game with the men's game set to follow shortly after that. The game will be streamed live on the Sun Digital Network.