AVE MARIA, Fla. — The #10 Bethel Pilots (10-3, 4-0) went 0-2 in their trip to Florida with their second-consecutive loss against the #18 Ave Maria Gyrenes in the Tom Golisano Fieldhouse on Tuesday night. The Pilots are now 2-2 against NAIA Top 25 opponents and 4-3 against teams outside of the state of Indiana.
Two Pilots had a double-double, with James Anderson dropping 14 points on 7-for-14 shooting from the floor and, 10 rebounds, and Alonas Peciulis had 12 points and, 10 rebounds.
Preston Phillips, Luke McBride, and Beau Jacquay had 10 points; Jacquay shot a perfect 4-4 from the field in 11 minutes on the floor.
Bethel struggled in the first half, shooting 33% from the floor and sinking only two triples (15%) from Luke McBride and Austin Cripe. The Gyrenes were hot from the floor, shooting 10-36 (55%) and 6-11 (54%) from beyond the arc.
The Gyrenes held the early 14-7 advantage at 12:55 in the first half, then hit an 8-4 run, with James Anderson scoring all four Pilot points, to grow to 20-11.
McBride hit a jumper at 9:56, with Cripe hitting a second-chance three at 9:28 to get back to a two-possession 20-16 lead, then Austin Hedrick got to the line and sunk two free throws 20-19.
Ave Maria hit another hot streak of 15-7 to gain a 10-point, 35-25 lead and later held the advantage into halftime 49-32.
Bethel started hot in the second half with a 9-4 run led by Andrew Hedrick with a split pair at the line at 16:22, then a jumper at 16:01 to chip away to 53-39.
The deficit remained double-digits up to, 11:50 where Jameir Jefferson hit a coast-to-coast layup to get BU within 11 points, 62-51.
Trent Edwards hit a second-chance layup after a missed three by Austin Cripe at 4:06, then off the inbound, Edwards stole the ball and kicked it out to Cripe on the wing for a triple to get back within 12 after a dry spell 82-70.
Peciulis hit a layup at 1:13 to go in regulation to get within 10 points, 88-78, but Bethel would ultimately fall to the Ave Maria Gyrenes 94-82.
The Pilots ended the night shooting 43% (32-74) from the floor and 5-21 from three-point range, but out-rebounded Ave Maria 47-34 and a whopping 21 offensive boards to the Gyrenes’ six.
Bethel returns home on Dec. 30 for the 74th meeting with the (RV) Cornerstone Golden Eagles at 3 p.m. in the Gates Gymnasium.