AVE MARIA, Fla. – The Ave Maria University men’s basketball team extended their winning streak to five games on Wednesday night, cruising to a 99-81 victory over the Florida National University Conquistadors at the Rhodora J. Donahue Academy gymnasium in AMU’s final game of the 2020 calendar year. The Gyrenes, powered by a 58-point outburst in the first half, ended a six-game losing streak to FNU, which dated back to the 2013-14 season.

The first half was the Eric Klekas show, as the senior exploded for 27 points. The Elko, Nevada native made ten of his 15 field goal attempts, including six of eight three-point tries. During the first half, Ave Maria used an 18-0 run to extend an 18-10 lead to 36-10, essentially taking control of the game for good. The lead would continue to grow from there, as the Gyrenes took a 58-28 advantage into the halftime break.

Led by Klekas’ effort, the Gyrenes shot 56.4 percent from the field in the first half, including a 50 percent mark (7-for-14) from beyond the three-point arc. AMU was also dominant on the glass, grabbing eleven offensive rebounds and holding a 29-14 advantage in rebounds over the first 20 minutes. On the other side of the floor, nearly half of FNU’s points were scored by Jeffrey Hernandez, who scored 13 points on 6-of-11 shooting.

Florida National outscored Ave Maria 53-41 in the second half, but were never able to threaten the Gyrenes down the stretch – in fact, the closest margin in the second half was the final margin of 18 points. The Conquistadors made nine three-pointers in the second half, and both teams shot better than 40 percent from the field – 48.8 percent for FNU and 44.4 percent for AMU. 

For the game, Ave Maria made 50.7 percent of their shots, including ten three-pointers. The Gyrenes also held a 52-34 advantage in the rebounding category, and grabbed 17 offensive rebounds. Florida National actually made more three-pointers than the Gyrenes, 13-10, but the Gyrenes more than made up for it with a 54-32 advantage in points in the paint.

Klekas was the game’s leading scorer, putting in 29 points and narrowly missed out on a double-double with nine assists. Fernando Salsamendi added yet another double-double with 13 points and 16 rebounds, a total that tied for second in AMU single game history. Four other Gyrenes were in double figures in the victory – Chayse Culpepper (12), Matt Gillis (11), Joseph Hahnenberg (10), and Chosen Levarity (10). Hernandez was FNU’s top scorer with 22 points on 20 shots.

Ave Maria is done for the 2020 calendar year, and will enter 2021 with a 9-4 record. The Gyrenes’ next game is scheduled for January 2, 2021, on the road against the St. Thomas University Bobcats. AMU’s return to Sun Conference play comes in Miami Gardens, and marks the start of a stretch of four conference games in eight days. Tipoff between the Gyrenes and Bobcats is scheduled for 4:00 p.m. on the first Saturday of the new year.

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BABSON PARK, Fla. – Led by a career-high 31 points by Jaylon Myles, the Webber International University men’s basketball team had six players score in double figures as the Warriors improved to 3-0 in nonconference games at home with a high-scoring 91-86 victory over Florida National University on Saturday.

It was the highest point total of the season so far for Webber, which improved to 3-5 overall on the season and is now 3-1 at home. Florida National, meanwhile, fell to 2-6.

In addition to Myles, who shot 13-19 from the field overall and was 2-for-2 from 3-point range, Eddie Davis had 14 points and was 4-for-4 shooting from the free throw line, Kris Goettert had 12 points, Rasheem Etienne and Terrance Lakes both had 11, and Loro Natana added 10 points. Goettert also matched his career-high in rebounds with 16 his third double-double of the season while Davis added a career-best eight boards and Etienne had a new career-high in assists with seven.

It was a game that featured five lead changes and eight ties, including four ties in the second half. A layup by the Conquistadors made it 52-52 with 15 and a half minutes left to play, and then a jumper by FNU with 10 and a half minutes left tied it again at 63-63.

From there, the Warriors went up by as much as 11 points at 78-67 after a 10-0 run that was capped off with a put back layup by Natana with just under six minutes left to play.  

Then, with Webber up nine at 84-75 following a free throw by Etienne with three and a half minutes left, FNU scored nine straight to tie it one last time, notching the score at 84-84 with 2:20 on the clock.

The Warriors answered with an and-one by Goettert to go ahead 87-84 with 2:03 remaining, and then after a jumper by Myles made it 89-86 with 1:21 left, neither team scored until the final seven seconds when two free throw by Davis salted it away.

Head Coach Gabriel Rutledge said, “I thought it was a great team win tonight. We had a lot of positive energy on both ends of the floor. I challenged Jaylon Myles after our previous two games, and he accepted the challenge, excelling both offensively and defensively. We still need to clean up our turnovers, but I was happy with the way we controlled the boards and dominated the paint. I was also pleased to see our defensive intensity remain high at the end of the game. Go Warriors.”

Next up, Webber will return to Sun Conference play to makeup a game that was previously postponed. The Warriors and the Gyrenes of Ave Maria University will tipoff starting at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, November 30, in Ave Maria, Florida. It will be Webber’s final game of the month.

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LAKELAND, Fla. — In its 2020-21 season opener, the new look Southeastern University women’s basketball team powered past the Florida National Conquistadors by a score of 96-51. This marks the seventh straight season-opening win for the Fire.

Head coach Tim Hays talked about his team’s performance after the game,

“Couldn’t be prouder of our group for stepping in after a very long summer,” Hays said. We played hard and had fun, did some trademark stuff of getting stops and running out in transition.”

That was the difference in the game between the two squads as the Fire scored 29 points off 26 Florida National turnovers and outscored the Conquistadors 50-18 in the paint. In total, seven different players recorded a steal for Southeastern.

Junior transfer Bekki Kalaydjiev played a role in forcing turnovers and converting in transition as she ended the night with 18 points, a team-high five assists, and four steals in her SEU debut. Afterwards she commented on what led to her team’s strong defensive effort, “I think we did a great job of pressuring the ball. The people who came in off the bench did a great job of keeping the energy up and that allowed us to make plays on the ball and get easy buckets in transition.”

Overall, Southeastern shot 48 percent (36-75) from the field and 27.8 percent (10-36) from 3-PT range compared to the Conquistadors shooting 36.5 percent from the field and 38.9 percent from beyond the arc.

The Fire jumped out to a 15-5 lead in the first quarter thanks to 11 combined points from Angelina Hammond and Haley Howarth, two key returners from last year’s team. The two were consistent throughout as Howarth finished with a game-high 22 points, converting on six of her 18 3-PT attempts. Hammond, meanwhile, tallied 14 points and six rebounds.

Southeastern extended their lead to 42-24 before the end of the first. Senior Jade Odom scored seven of her ten total points in the first-half and chipped in with six rebounds and a team-high five steals.

The Fire scored 27 points in both the third and fourth quarters and only allowed six fourth quarter points to Florida National to seal the victory.

Senior guard Madi Hecox scored 17 points on 7-of-12 shooting and grabbed a team-high seven rebounds in her first career start.

Transfer forward Carmen Handy provided a spark off the bench in her first game in a Fire uniform with 11 points.

The Fire (1-0) next play on the road when they take on Asbury College in Wilmore, Ky. on Tuesday, Nov. 3 at 6:00 p.m.

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