AVE MARIA, Fla. — Coming into the 2024-25 season, the Ave Maria Men's Basketball program record for points in a game was 119 points. It was a record that had stood for over 12 years, being set on January 17, 2012, against the Warner Royals. Now, after 25 games in the 2024-25 season, the Gyrenes have broken that record four times, most recently Saturday with the Ave Maria besting Warner 126-94.
The Gyrenes were firing straight off the opening tip draining three threes before Warner hit their first basket. Ave Maria kept their foot on the gas pedal and before even eight minutes had ticked off the game clock, the Gyrenes had a 30-8 lead. AMU went 11-for-16 from the field during that run, including 8-for-11 from behind the arc.
Warner matched Ave Maria's pace for a little bit in the final 12 minutes of the half, but the Gyrenes still outscored the Royals 39-34 during that time and took a 69-42 lead into the break.
Sixty-nine points is the third-most points scored in a half in program history for the Gyrenes. All three halves have been this season with the second-most being a 70-point first half against Florida National on January 2 and the most being a 75-point second half against Trinity Baptist on November 25.
The Gyrenes hit 14 three-pointers in the opening 20 minutes, which is more than Ave Maria has hit in a whole game 15 times this season.
Ave Maria continued to pour on the points in the second half, but this time the Gyrenes dominated inside the arc rather than outside. In the first 10 minutes of the frame, Ave Maria hit 12 shots with only three of them coming from downtown.
With 10:26 left to play in the game, the Gyrenes hit the century mark emphatically with a Noryen Lasley slam that brought the crowd at Golisano to its feet. It is the eighth time this season Ave Maria has hit triple digits. They are two away from tying the high mark of 10 100+ point games they set last season.
The Gyrenes emptied the bench in the final quarter of the game and three started falling again. Ave Maria hit five more threes to get up to their final score of 126. That is now the second-highest scoring game in AMU history, beating out their marks of 122 against Trinity Baptist in December and 120 against Florida National in January. The program record still stands at 142 set in November against Trinity Baptist.
Ave Maria also finished with 22 three-point field goals. It is just the second time in program history the Gyrenes have hit more than 20, with the first time being 25 threes against Coastal Georgia in 2020.
"Great offensive night for [us]," said head coach Jamon Copeland after the game. "We obviously shot it really well and the pace was in our favor tonight. So, it was a fun night."
Six different Gyrenes hit double figures Saturday against Warner, the first time that has happened since November 30 against Cumberlands. Miles Monchecourt led the team with 26 points. Jonathan Effertz was right behind him with 22. The other four were Nick Filchner at 15, Jay White at 15, Mark Blaszczyk at 12 and Mitchell Lee at 10. That is a season high for Effertz and ties a season high for Lee.
With the win, Ave Maria improves to 20-5 overall and 11-2 in conference play, holding on to first in the Sun Conference.
The Gyrenes get a well deserved day off Wednesday as they take their second and final bye of the conference season. Ave Maria is back in action Saturday, February 15, in West Palm Beach as they take on the Keiser Seahawks.
Keiser has played two less conference games than Ave Maria but will make those up Monday against Coastal Georgia and Wednesday against Webber. If the Seahawks win both of those games, they will tie the Gyrenes at 11-2 and Saturday will determine who is first in the conference with just two games left in the regular season after that. Tipoff is set for 4 p.m. and the game will be streamed live on the Sun Digital Network.
