St. Ambrose missed its last six shots from the floor as No. 19 Holy Cross escaped with a 74-69 win Saturday afternoon in Lee Lohman Arena.

The Bees did not score after Dylan Kaczmarek knocked down a 3-pointer to pull SAU to within 70-69 with 2:48 to play. After Holy Cross came up empty, St. Ambrose had a chance at its first lead since the opening stages of the game, but Jake Meeske missed a three. Ben Schols grabbed the offensive rebound before the Bees turned it over leading to a Saints layup and a 72-69 deficit.

Tom Kazanecki missed a jumper and then Meeske, John Kerr and Schols each misfired on potential game-tying threes before Holy Cross (21-5, 16-2 CCAC) hit two free throws in the final seconds to seal the win.

The late scoreless streak came after St. Ambrose erased a 16-point first-half deficit.

The Bees (15-11, 11-7 CCAC) trailed just 32-29 with three minutes remaining in the opening half. But the Saints hit three straight triples to ignite a 13-0 run. Meeske hit two from the line late in the half to make the score 45-31 at the break.

The margin was still 10 points midway through the second half before 3-pointers from Meeske and Kazanecki and four straight points from Kerr evened the score at 64-64 with five minutes remaining.

The teams remained close the rest of the way.

Despite shooting under 40 percent for the game and watching the Saints shoot at a nearly 53-percent clip, the Bees were able to stay competitive by pulling down 15 offensive rebounds. Kerr had six of those among his game-high 13 total boards. He also scored a team-best 15 points.

Kaczmarek finished with 14 points after burying 4-of-5 from beyond the arc. Kazanecki scored 12 points to go along with seven rebounds and Meeske added 11 points. Schols and Patrick Torrey each came off the bench to contribute six points.

St. Ambrose will face its second straight ranked opponent when the Bees visit No. 4 Olivet Nazarene Wednesday night.