St. Ambrose saw its chance to qualify for the CCAC Tournament disappear with an 86-75 loss at Trinity Christian Wednesday night.

The Bees, who were a dominating 11-3 at home, continued to struggle on the road. The big difference in the game came from beyond the arc, where the Trolls knocked down 12-of-30 (40 percent) while the Bees shot just 3-of-17 (17.6 percent).

SAU never led and trailed 15-7 just five minutes in. After falling behind by 11, a late Alex Portwood 3-pointer trimmed the halftime deficit to 44-36.

And the Bees stayed close throughout the second half. Blake Buls knocked down a shot in the paint to cut the margin to 50-49 with 13 minutes to play. John Kerr scored inside to pull SAU to within 66-65 with under six minutes left. And a minute later, Kerr did it again, scoring to put the deficit at 68-67.

Following that, Trinity Christian (8-21, 4-15 CCAC) went on an 8-0 run, capped by back-to-back 3-pointers, to build a 76-67 lead with just under four minutes remaining. St. Ambrose never got closer than seven points from there.

Kerr led the Bees with 20 points and six rebounds. Buls netted 15 points and Warren Allen came off the bench to hit 6-of-8 shots in scoring 13. Jalen Jones added eight points.

With the eight-team CCAC Tournament starting next week, SAU is now in a tie for ninth place in the CCAC, two games out of eighth place with a single game remaining. The season will conclude Saturday with a 3 p.m. game at St. Francis.