BOCA RATON, Fla. – Lynn University men's basketball captured their first win of the season with an 80-48 victory over Ave Maria University. The Fighting Knights move to 16-4 all-time in home openers and 15-5 in season openers. Shamel Akins paced the offense with a team-high 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting from the field as four players finished in double-figures.
Lynn started the first half on a 17-4 run and Ave Maria (3-1) was unable to close the gap by more than six for the remainder of the period. Akins scored 14 of his points in the first 20 minutes of play after shooting 5-for-6 from the field and 66% from behind the free-throw line.
Brandon Smith pulled down five boards while adding six points for the Blue and White. LU shot an impressive 70.4% from the field in the first half and a sizzling 51.6% overall while the Gyrenes were held to 29 percent. Akins good fortune continued just before buzzer sounded to head to the locker room as he was fouled from near midcourt on a three-point attempt, sending him to the charity stripe for three shots. After sinking all three, Lynn headed into the break with a 22-point lead at 47-25.
The Fighting Knight kept their first half momentum going while holding the visitors to a standstill on the scoreboard until a Jelani Bonner trey to bring the score to 51-28. Lynn took their biggest lead of the game, 80-43, after Reed Ridder sank a bucket from behind the arc to send the capacity crowd into frenzy.
Smith turned out 10 of his 16 points in the second half while Kaleb Clyburn and Jeremy Lampkin added 11 and 10 points. Pavle Raickovich tallied a team-best eight rebounds followed by Lampkin with six and Smith with five.
Lynn recorded ten steals in the contest and capitalized on 19 turnovers by Ave Maria.
Lynn returns to the hardwood on Wednesday, November 14, at 7:30 p.m. when it hosts Palm Beach Atlantic. Fans can listen to the action live at LynnFightingKnights.com. Don't forget to 'Like' us on Facebook and follow @LUKnights on Twitter and Instagram.
