LAKE WALES, Fla. - The Royals Men's Basketball team restarts their SUN Conference campaign this week, first traveling to Ave Maria University on Wednesday and then returning home to face-off with St. Thomas University on Saturday. 

The Royals are looking to continue their strong start to 2026 after beating Florida College at home last Saturday 85-70, where 4 different Royals scored 10 or more points with Josh Irwin leading the way with 24 points and Seth Childers recording a double-double with 19 points and 10 rebounds on the day. Warner enters the week with hopes to secure their first conference win of the season as they enter the match-up with Ave Maria at 0-3 in SUN Conference competitions. 
 

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Warner:

Josh Irwin - Graduate Student Forward: Irwin is coming off a near double-double performance against Florida College where he tied his season high in points with 24 points and recorded 9 rebounds. The Forward leads the Royals in Average PPG with 17.9 and Average Rebounds/Game with 7.3. 

Seth Childers - Junior Guard: Childers is coming off his first double-double of the season, scoring 19 points and recording 10 rebounds, both season highs, last Saturday. The Junior leads the Royals in steals with 29 total on the season, averaging 1.9 per game. 

Ave Maria University:

Marlon Bennett - Junior Guard: Bennett is coming off back to back games scoring 20 or more points and leads Ave Maria in scoring this season with 268 points on the season, averaging 16.8 PPG. The Junior is also second on the team in steals this season, recording 20 overall for an average of 1.3 per game. 

Michael Klekas - Senior Guard: Klekas is the second leading scorer and rebounder for Ave Maria this season with 264 points (16.5 PPG) and 109 rebounds (6.8 Reb/G). The Senior has scored 20 or more points in 6 games this season. 

St. Thomas University:

Kaleb Myers - Sophomore: Myers is currently second in scoring for the Bobcats with 267 points on the season and averaging 16.7 PPG, he leads the team in FG% (.576%), FTs (69-119), Rebounds (128, 8.0 Reb/G), and Blocks (8, 0.5 Blk/G). The Sophomore is coming off back to back games scoring 20 or more points and had a 30 point game in November against Marian University (IN). 

Adrain Cruz - Senior: Cruz currently leads St. Thomas in scoring with 268 points on the season and is averaging 16.8 PPG and also leads the team in assists with 61 (3.8 Ast/G). The Senior has scored 20 or more points in 6 games this season.
 

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WARNER	STATS	AVE MARIA	ST. THOMAS
75.2	SCORING	94.0	72.6
393-899 (43.7%)	FIELD GOALS-ATT (PCT%)	538-1073 (50.1%)	404-920 (43.9%)
112-373 (30%)	3 POINT FG-ATT (PCT%)	175-454 (38.5%)	126-393 (32.1%)
230-324 (71.0%)	FREE THROWS-ATT (PCT%)	251-348 (72.1%)	228-329 (69.3%)
474 (31.6)	REBOUNDS (per game)	661 (41.3)	597 (37.3)
189 (12.6)	ASSISTS (per game)	247 (15.4)	213 (13.3)
121 (8.1)	STEALS (per game)	118 (7.4)	85 (5.3)
28 (1.9)	BLOCKS (per game)	67 (4.2)	30 (1.9)

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Vs. Ave Maria

• The Royals lead the all-time series with a record 20-14.
• Ave Maria won the last matchup 126-94 in Lake Wales. Box Score
• The Royals last beat Ave Maria on January 14th, 2023 in the Turner Athletic Center 81-74. Box Score 
• The 1st matchup between the two programs was November 22nd, 2022 where the Royals won 75-57. 

Vs. St. Thomas

• Saturday will be the 36th time the two programs will face-off
• St. Thomas leads the all-time series at 20-15.
• Warner won the last matchup on February 12th, 2025 with a final score of 85-81. Box Score 
• The Royals are 10-7 at home against St. Thomas
• The 1st time the two programs played one another was January 9th, 2010 in Lake Wales, where the Royals won in Overtime 90-87.

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Vs. Ave Maria University
Date: Wednesday, January 7th
Time: 7:30pm
Location: Ave Maria University - Ave Maria, FL
Watch Live: https://urbanedgenetwork.net/?school=sun-conference
Live Stats: https://warnerroyals.com/sidearmstats/mbball/summary
Ticketing Information: https://avemariagyrenes.com/sports/2023/3/28/tickets.aspx


Vs. St. Thomas University
Date: Saturday, January 10th
Time: 4:00pm
Location: Turner Athletic Center - Warner University - Lake Wales, FL
Watch Live: https://urbanedgenetwork.net/?school=sun-conference
Live Stats: https://warnerroyals.com/sidearmstats/mbball/summary
Ticketing Information: https://warnerroyals.com/sports/2021/7/20/ticketing

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