Falcons Win Overtime Thriller Against Ave Maria

TEMPLE TERRACE, Fla. - The #20 Florida College Falcons came from behind to defeat the Ave Maria University Gyrenes 93-89 in overtime on Tuesday night in Conn Gymnasium.

After a cold shooting start, FC found themselves down 26-9 after just nine minutes of action. The Falcons finished the half on a 29-14 run to trail 38-40 at halftime.

The Falcons first tied the game with 15:44 remaining in the second half on an Ethan Smith three-pointer. Ave answered with a 5-0 run to take the five-point lead. From there, FC used a 15-2 run to take an 8-point lead after a Drew Kramer putback dunk. Kramer would be given a technical foul for smacking the backboard, which gave the Gyrenes two free throws, but more importantly, stopped the Falcons' tremendous momentum.

Ave Maris took their first lead in a while with 4:04 left on a Chayse Culpepper three to make the score 75-73. Anthony Bittar used a 5-0 run by himself to take the 3-point lead for FC with 2:29 remaining. Chayse Culpepper went on a 4-0 run of his own for the Gyrenes to take a 79-78 lead with just 1:11 remaining.

Anthony Bittar would score again, taking a one-point lead with a minute left. The point guards continued to go at it, with Culpepper nailing another three with 32 seconds left to take a 2-point lead. The Falcons called time out and drew up another look for Bittar, who came through and tied the game at 82 with 24 seconds remaining. This was a 9-0 Anthony Bittar run for the Falcons.

The Falcons then came out in a different defense than expected, forcing AMU to take their last timeout with 13 seconds remaining. Michael Klekas got off a decent look that was off the mark. FC grabbed the rebound and called timeout with 0.8 seconds remaining, all tied up. Matt Simpson came out of the timeout and heaved a 70-footer that hit the front rim but didn't fall, so the game headed to overtime.

This would be the first overtime game in the Teichmann era for Florida College. The Falcons started off OT right, taking a 6-0 lead with just over 3 minutes to play. Culpepper answered again with a huge three-ball to make it a one-possession game again. Bittar nailed a huge triple to take a six-point advantage with 2:30 remaining. Ave would end up clawing back and having the ball, down 3 with 50 seconds remaining.

FC played solid defense and forced the Gyrenes to bleed clock and take a shot at the end of the shot clock, which was off and rebounded by Calvin Finch Jr. Finch was fouled and calmly sank both free throws with 9 seconds left, essentially icing the game.

The #20 Falcons move to 20-3 on the year. This was the 25th consecutive home win for Florida College, dating back to the 2021-2022 season.

The Falcons were led in scoring by Anthony Bittar, who stuffed the stat sheet with 28 points, 11 rebounds, and 5 assists. Matt Simpson had 21 points. Ethan Smith scored a season-high 19 points. Calvin Finch Jr. tallied a 14-point, 10-rebound double-double, while also dishing out 4 assists and blocking 3 shots.

Up next, the Falcons head to Arkansas to take on the #23 Iowa Wesleyan Tigers on Friday, followed by Northern New Mexico College on Saturday.