TAMPA, Fla. – NAIA No. 13 Ave Maria and No. 18 Warner meet for the first time this season in a key, early-season men's basketball matchup of the two ranked Sun teams in The Sun Conference "Game of the Week." The game is set for Thursday, Dec. 5, at 7:30 p.m. at Ave Maria's Tom Golisano Field House.
 
Ave Maria (8-1, 3-0) jumped out to an 8-0 start to the 2019-20 campaign before falling to No. 11 Washington Adventist (Md.) by an 85-79 score on Nov. 27 in Takoma Park, Md. The Gyrenes are 3-0 in Sun Conference play to date, registering a 96-90 home win over Florida Memorial on Nov. 16 and back-to-back road wins at Thomas (83-78) and Coastal Georgia (98-74) the following week.
 
Warner (10-1, 2-1) also leaped out to a fast start, winning its first seven games before falling at home to Sun rival St. Thomas, 83-75, on Nov. 21. The Royals had opened league play on Nov. 16 with a home win over Johnson & Wales and rebounded from the St. Thomas setback to win at Florida Memorial (84-73) on Nov. 23.  Warner enters the Ave Maria showdown with some momentum, having pushed its current winning streak to three games with a pair of wins over Milligan (Tenn.) and Reinhardt (Ga.) at last week's NAIA National Showcase in Kingsport, Tenn.
 
Thursday's matchup not only features The Sun Conference's only NAIA Top 25 teams but also pits the top two teams in the conference's preseason poll. The Sun's coaches picked Warner (by just a single voting point) to edge out Ave Maria for the 2019-20 Sun regular-season crown. 
 
The two teams will meet once again on Feb. 8 in Lake Wales during the second half of The Sun Conference season. The two rivals split their meetings last year, with each team winning on its home court. They did not face one another in The Sun Conference Tournament at the conclusion of the season. Ave Maria won that Sun Conference tourney title before losing a first-round game at the NAIA Division II Championship tournament to Southwestern (Kan.). Warner fell in the Sun tourney semifinals to Coastal Georgia but received an at-large bid to the NAIA tourney and also dropped a first-round game to Dakota Wesleyan (S.D.).
 
Fans can watch and follow all the "Game of the Week" action Thursday via the Ave Maria stream at https://portal.stretchinternet.com/avemaria/.