WICHITA, Kan. — For the third year in a row, the Ave Maria Men's Basketball team qualified for the NAIA National Tournament. And for the third year in a row, the Ave Maria Gyrenes are moving on to the second round.
The Gyrenes won a tough, gritty battle in the First Round as they beat the Texas A&M Texarkana Eagles 84-62. AMU got off to a slow start, but settled in around eight minutes into the game.
Texas A&M Texarkana shocked the Gyrenes early on in the game by hitting the first two three-pointers of the game and taking a two-possession lead. On the other side of the floor, Ave Maria missed their first eight attempts from behind the arc. This led to the Gyrenes trailing the Eagles for the first five minutes of the game.
Michael Klekas hit the first three of the game for the Gyrenes and that seemed to settle Ave Maria into the game. A minute later, Jack Watkins connected on a jumper in the paint to give AMU their first lead of the game.
The lead exchanged hands one more time before the Gyrenes took the lead for good with 13 minutes remaining in the first half with a three-pointer from Jonathan Effertz. The Eagles tied it one more time, but a floater, foul and made free throw from Jay White put AMU back in front for the rest of the game.
In the final 10 minutes of the first half, Ave Maria got the lead up to double digits, doing so primarily from the free throw line. The Gyrenes went a perfect 12-for-12 from the charity stripe in the opening frame and that helped build a lead the Eagles could not overcome.
Ave Maria hit their largest lead of the half in the final minute with a triple from Marlon Bennett to go up by 17 points. Texas A&M Texarkana responded with a three-pointer of their own, their third of the frame, but the Gyrenes still went into the locker room up 47-33.
The lead never dipped under 11 points in the second half as the Gyrenes took control of the game. The Eagles went on a 6-0 run early in the half after a three-pointer from White to make it an 11-point ballgame, but that was the closest they would ever get.
Ave Maria immediately responded with a 5-0 run of their own off a three-pointer from Effertz and two points from Klekas to put the lead back at 16.
The Gyrenes hit their largest lead of the night just inside the 10 minute mark of the second half as another shot from Klekas in the paint put Ave Maria up by 24 points.
AMU cruised through the rest of the half, hitting two more three-pointers on the way to an 84-62 victory.
Klekas led the team in scoring with 19 points on Friday. Three other Gyrenes hit double figures as White scored 17 and Alex Sherwood and Bennett each finished with 11.
Klekas and Sherwood led the team in rebounding as well, each hauling in 13 boards. That gives both of them a double-double. For Klekas, it is his third double-double and the first since the second game of the season. Sherwood already owns the single season double-double record in program history and now extends the record to 14.
As a team, Ave Maria hit 10 trifectas in the game, led by Effertz with three.
With the win, Ave Maria improves to 27-4 overall and moves onto the second round. The Gyrenes will take on the host Friends Falcons on Saturday. The Falcons made it to the second round after surviving a quadruple overtime game against the IU Southeast Grenadiers. It will be the first ever matchup between the two teams on the hardwood. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. eastern, and the game will be streamed live on the Urban Edge Network.
