On a night they hit only 3-of-12 free throws, the Bees were unable to shoot their way out of a recent slump, falling for the fourth straight time in an 82-69 loss to Clarke Thursday night.

A three-minute stretch in the second half proved costly.

Trailing just 60-57 after a Michael Williams basket, St. Ambrose watched Clarke rip off a 13-3 run, which included 3-pointers on three straight possessions, to open up a 73-60 advantage with 4:29 to play. SAU never got it back within single digits from there.

The Bees (10-6) never got much of anything going in the second half.

Over the final 20 minutes, they shot just 13-of-37 from the field, including a 5-of-18 effort from beyond the arc, and just 2-of-4 from the line, which was actually an improvement from their 1-of-8 free throw mark in the opening half.

Despite the poor shooting and allowing Clarke to shoot at a better than 63-percent clip from the floor after the halftime break, St. Ambrose twice held a three-point lead in the second half. The last time came on a Williams 3-pointer with 13 minutes left. SAU stayed close until Clarke (9-5) went on its decisive run.

The second-half struggles erased some strong early shooting for the Bees.

Three-pointers from Jake Meeske, John Kerr and Dylan Kaczmarek helped St. Ambrose open up a 13-6 lead not even five minutes into the game.

Cameron Kalmas came off the bench to contribute three triples as SAU shot 7-of-13 from beyond the arc in the opening half. It was part of a 14-of-28 overall shooting effort from the floor in the first half.

Williams led the Bees with a game-high 22 points. Kerr finished with 17 points and 14 rebounds. Kalmas scored nine while Meeske and Kaczmarek each netted six. Kaczmarek also handed out a team-best seven assists to go along with seven rebounds.

St. Ambrose will look to break its four-game skid Saturday when the team returns to conference play by hosting Judson. Tip-off is slated for 3 p.m.