St. Ambrose suffered its first loss of the season in a competitive 78-71 setback to No. 20 Saint Francis (Ind.) Friday afternoon at Lee Lohman Arena.

Turnovers proved to be the difference in the game. St. Ambrose turned the ball over 17 times leading to 25 Saint Francis points. The Bees, meanwhile, scored just two points off a total of five Cougar turnovers.

Otherwise, the Bees more than held their own against the nationally-ranked Cougars.

SAU (4-1) shot better than 49 percent from the floor while holding USF to 42-percent shooting. St. Ambrose also finished with a 40-30 advantage on the boards.

Tom Kazanecki and John Kerr led the way. Kazanecki scored 21 points, with 15 of those coming in the first half, and added seven rebounds. Kerr took over in the second half, scoring 15 of his 20 points after halftime. He also led all players with 14 rebounds.

Dylan Kaczmarek also scored in double figures, netting 13 points, all coming in the second half.

Kaczmarek's first basket of the game, a 3-pointer with 14 minutes left, capped a 12-0 run that gave St. Ambrose a 51-47 lead. The Bees last led at 53-51 on a Will Spriggs layup. USF (9-1) followed with six straight points and built a lead as large as eight points twice, the last time coming inside the final minute.

Kaczmarek scored SAU's next seven points with the final three coming on a triple that trimmed the deficit to 74-71. But the Cougars hit two free throws and after Kaczmarek missed a long three, they added two more to account for the final score.

Warren Allen came off the bench to contribute nine points and five rebounds in the loss.

St. Ambrose will conclude a stretch of four games in seven days Sunday by hosting No. 10 Marian at 2 p.m.

Videos below courtesy SAUtv

Tom Kazanecki knocks down a jumper to tie the game at 6-6

Jake Friel with a nice pass to Kazanecki for the dunk to tie the game at 14-14

John Kerr knocks down a 3-pointer to trim the deficit to 47-42

Kerr's baseline three cuts the margin to 60-58

Dylan Kaczmarek hits a three to keep the Bees close at 67-62