UNIONTOWN, PA. – The Apprentice School men's basketball team lost their third-place contest Saturday morning to Ave Maria University 75-54 in the U.S. Collegiate Athletic Association Men's Division I National Championships.

A pair of Lavontae Thomas free throws gave the Builders a 14-10 lead with 11:42 left, but that turned into the largest and final advantage.  Tyler Cutrer drained a 3-pointer for the Gyrenes and a Mike Coyle jumper put Ave Maria ahead to stay at 15-14 with 10:55 remaining.  The game was tied twice more as a Joe Lyons jumper with 6:52 remaining evened the game at 20-all.

In the second half, the Builders got as close as six points early on a 3-pointer from Lyons and a dunk from Lewis Archer to bring the lead down to 38-32 with 17:51 left.  Ave Maria responded on a 10-3 spurt to take a 48-35 lead on a Kiel Lewis layup at the 14:15 mark.  Apprentice School cut it down to seven points on a pair of Tevin Andrews jumpers with the last one at the 8:11 mark to trail 52-45, though that was as close as it got as the Gyrenes ripped off a 14-2 run to go up 66-47 on a pair of Lewis free throws with 2:29 left.

Andrews was the leading scorer for the Builders with 12 points and 13 rebounds, while Isaih Harrison ended his career with 10 points and six rebounds.  Archer added 11 off the bench for the Builders who ended their season 17-11.  Lewis was the leading scorer in the game with 35 points for Ave Maria.