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Florida Memorial University Athletics

Scoreboard

FMU player
Max Zilberberg
82
Florida Memorial University FMU
88
Winner Ave Maria AMU
Florida Memorial University FMU
82
Final
88
Ave Maria AMU
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Florida Memorial University FMU 33 49 82
Ave Maria AMU 43 45 88

Game Recap: Men's Basketball | | J.T. Wilcox, Sports Information Director

Despite Balanced Scoring Night, FMU Falls To Ave Maria

AVE MARIA, Fla. – Florida Memorial University did a good job of slowing down Ave Maria's dynamic leading scorer Eric Klekas – holding him to well below his average – but saw two other Gyrenes score at least 20 points as the Lions fell 88-82 Wednesday night in the Sun Conference's men's Game of the Week.
 
FMU (1-2, 1-2 The Sun Conference) held Klekas to just 15 points on 5-of-15 shooting and got a season-high 23 points from junior guard Tristan Stephens, but its undoing was the 27 points from Ave Maria's Matt Gillis and 20 points from Fernando Salsamendi.
 
Florida Memorial, which will travel to West Palm Beach, Florida Saturday to take on Keiser University, trailed by as many as 14 in the first half before cutting the deficit to 10 by halftime.
 
The Lions could never climb all the way out of that first-half hole despite a couple of intrepid rallies. FMU cut the Gyrenes' lead to four points twice through the first eight minutes of the second half – coming out of halftime with a 6-0 run to shave Ave Maria's lead down to 43-39 with 18:58 left in the second and drawing within four points again at the 12:15 mark thanks to a 10-2 spurt.
 
Four would be as close as the Lions would draw the rest of the way, with Ave Maria again stretching its lead to double-digits and keeping the Lions at bay until Stephens hit a three-pointer at the buzzer to create the final 88-82 margin.
 
Five total Florida Memorial players finished with at least 10 points Wednesday. Stephens' 23 led the way; Sam Mack Jr. – who scored a career-high 32 points this past Saturday – finished with 13 points; 7-foot center Mubashar Ali had 11 points and 8 rebounds; while Cheikh Kebe and Korin Bradley Jr. each added 10 points.
 
FMU did play Wednesday without the services of versatile 6-foot-8 forward Quincy Urbina, who missed the game for an undisclosed reason. Urbina's length and athleticism could've potentially helped the Lions come up with some of the defensive stops it needed Wednesday.
 
And one could chalk up Wednesday's result simply to a lack of defensive stops. The Lions actually shot better from the field than Ave Maria – 48.5 percent to 45.7 percent – and were only slight negatives in the rebounding margin (minus-1) and turnover margin (minus-3).
 
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