St. Ambrose kept pace with the top of the conference by running past Trinity International 81-53 Saturday afternoon in Deerfield, Ill.

The Bees shot better than 49 percent from the floor and knocked down 13 3-pointers (in 33 attempts) in winning their third straight game. The win moved the team to 14-8 overall and 10-4 in the CCAC.

SAU took control early, building a 46-25 lead at the half. John Kerr scored 17 of his game-high 23 points in the opening half. His 3-pointer eight minutes in gave the Bees their first double-digit lead of the game at 19-9, and came as part of a string of triples for St. Ambrose.

Kerr's shot followed a three from Kyle Rohr that gave SAU a 16-7 lead. Those were the first two of eight straight threes for the Bees. Kerr hit half of them, and Cameron Kalmas, Tom Kazanecki and Trey Affolter each hit one to extend the lead to 37-20 on the way to the 21-point halftime advantage.

Michael Williams opened the second half scoring with a triple and the lead ballooned to as many as 36 points in the second half.

Kerr finished 6-of-7 from beyond the arc and was 7-of-9 shooting overall in netting his 23 points.

Kazanecki and Williams each finished with 16 points. Rohr and Warren Allen each came off the bench to contribute seven points.

Jake Meeske led all players with eight rebounds and seven assists in the win.

The Bees completely shut down the Trojans. Trinity International (4-15, 3-11 CCAC) shot just 33 percent from the field and connected on 2-of-24 3-point tries.

St. Ambrose will next visit Cardinal Stritch Wednesday night.