Facing a team that had already knocked off a pair of top-25 opponents, No. 20 St. Ambrose made sure they would not be the third.

Michael Williams led four Bees in double figures as SAU defeated future conference opponent Lincoln College 82-73 Wednesday night inside Lee Lohman Arena. With the win, the Bees improved to 9-2 overall.

Williams sparked a late first-half run. With St. Ambrose nursing a 31-29 lead, Williams pulled down an offensive rebound and scored inside. Then after two Dylan Kaczmarek free throws, Williams found Isaiah Harvey for a layup and a 37-29 lead. After another defensive stop, Williams knocked down a 3-pointer to give the Bees their first double-digit advantage of the night. Williams poured in 13 of his points in the first half to help SAU to a 47-33 lead.

The lead remained in double figures the majority of the second half. Lincoln, which will be joining the CCAC in 2020-21, pulled to within eight points three times in the final three minutes, but could get no closer.

The game, in large part, was decided from beyond the arc. The Lynx (5-8) hit just 7-of-32 3-point tries (21.9 percent), including a 2-of-14 mark in the second half. The Bees hit nine of their 22 3-point attempts. Williams and Jake Meeske combined to hit 6-of-11 from deep.

Williams did much of his damage from the line, hitting 11-of-14 free throws. St. Ambrose outscored Lincoln 23-14 from the line.

John Kerr scored 10 points in the second half to finish with 16. He also grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds. Meeske finished with 12 points and Harvey came off the bench to score 11. Kaczmarek (nine rebounds) and Patrick Torrey each added six points.

SAU (5-0 CCAC) will return to conference play with a game at Governors State Saturday.