Box Score 1 AVE MARIA, Fla. – The Spring Arbor University men's basketball team kicked off Christmas Break with a trip south to Miami, Florida where it faced off against Florida National University and Ave Maria University.
The Cougars opened with a 79-63 loss at Florida National before suffering an 81-79 setback at Ave Maria in overtime.
Against Florida National, SAU trailed by as many as 16 in the first half but refused to go down without a fight. The Cougars stormed out of the gates in the second half with an 18-8 run to cut the deficit to one, 49-48, as senior Greg Hamilton and freshman Anthony Qasawa combined for 10 points.
The Conquistadors (9-3) responded, however, 13 unanswered points to boost their lead back to double digits and would never look back.
Hamilton led the Cougars with 12 points and three assists. Sophomore Zach Medendorp and junior Caleb Hogans followed with 11 and 10 points.
Spring Arbor looked to bounce back the next day when it took the floor against Ave Maria (3-9). Behind an outstanding shooting performance in the first half, the Cougars led the Gyrenes 44-36 at halftime.
In the second half, Ave Maria slowly closed the gap and would tie the score at 67-67 with 2:10 remaining in regulation. After trading buckets, senior Peter Barry hit a jumper to put SAU on top 73-71 with just 12 seconds left on the clock. However, the Gyrenes would knock down a pair of clutch free throws in the final seconds to force overtime.
In the extra period with the score knotted at 79-79 and just 24 seconds to play, SAU would miss a free throw and the Gyrenes would capitalize on the other end of the floor with the go-ahead basket. The Cougars would have one last chance but a three-pointer from junior Thomas Starks at the buzzer would come up empty.
Both teams finished shooting 50 percent from the field, but the difference came out the charity stripe where Ave Maria connected on 14-of-19 attempts while Spring Arbor made just 4-of-8.
Hogans paced the Cougars with 17 points while Barry followed with 14 and six rebounds. Medendorp and Hamilton also scored in double figures with 11 and 10 points, respectively. Starks narrowly missed a double-double with nine points and nine boards while also chipping in a team-best five assists.
Spring Arbor (6-8) will close out the calendar year with a trip to Madonna University (4-11) on Wednesday, Dec. 30 at 7 p.m.
Men's Basketball Contact: Chris Bauman | 517-750-6504 | christopher.bauman@arbor.edu
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