St. Ambrose missed its first four shots of overtime, allowing Holy Cross to open up a six-point lead, a lead the Bees could never overcome in an 80-75 loss at Lee Lohman Arena Saturday afternoon.

After shooting better than 53 percent from the floor in regulation, the Bees never got anything going offensively in the extra session in dropping their second straight overtime contest.

While SAU missed its first four shots of OT, and shot just 3-of-11 over those final five minutes, Holy Cross (11-9, 5-5 CCAC) hit its first two shots of overtime, including a 3-pointer, and was a perfect 3-of-3 from the floor. The Saints sealed the game from the line making 7-of-11 free throws over the final 2:06.

A Warren Allen free throw was the Bees' only point in overtime until Michael Williams scored on a layup with 90 seconds remaining to trim the deficit to 73-69. After a Holy Cross free throw, St. Ambrose, with a chance to get back to within a single possession, came up empty on its next two trips down the court.

The Saints pushed the lead to 10 points in the final 13 seconds before late threes from Dylan Kaczmarek and John Kerr accounted for the final margin.

The loss came after St. Ambrose was able to open up a 15-point first-half lead. A Jake Meeske 3-pointer, capping his 16-point first half, built a 38-23 lead with 4:18 to go. But those proved to be the Bees' final points of the half as the Saints closed with 12 straight points to trail just 38-35 at halftime.

SAU maintained the lead throughout the majority of the second half, taking a 12-point lead at 47-35 on a Meeske three and later a 10-point lead at 52-42 on a Jalen Jones triple with just over 12 minutes remaining.

The second half mirrored the first half. After Meeske scored for a 66-61 lead with 5:12 to play, the Bees would not score again in regulation. The Saints went on a 6-0 run to tie the game with 2:27 on the clock. That was it for regulation, with the Saints getting called for a shot-clock violation with two seconds left and the Bees unable to get off a shot on the final play.

Meeske finished with a game-high 26 points. He was 5-of-10 from beyond the arc. Williams and Kerr each scored 14 points and Allen finished with 10.

St. Ambrose, now 9-8 overall and 5-5 in the CCAC, will host Emmaus Bible College Monday at 7 p.m. before returning to conference play with a game at Judson Wednesday.