Slow second-half sinks Bees against No. 20 Titans
| Final | 1 | 2 | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
St. Ambrose (13-16, 10-12) | 48 | 29 | 77 |
|
Indiana South Bend (24-5, 19-3) | 43 | 44 | 87 |
The St. Ambrose Fighting Bees had to hit the road for their final regular-season matchup of the season, traveling east to take on the No. 20-ranked Indiana-South Bend Titans in a pivotal CCAC matchup.
Despite a herculean 30-point performance from sophomore guard Will Spriggs and 24 more from senior forward Tom Kazanecki, the Bees couldn't put the pieces together down the stretch to knock off the IU-SB Titans (24-5, 19-3 CCAC).
The Bees showed their grit early, hanging tought with the Titans through the first 20 minutes of play. Jake Friel set the tempo by snagging a rebound of the Titan's first miss and racing down the court in transition to bury a three.
The first half was tightly contested with both clubs going virtually shot-for-shot. That was until Spriggs and Kazanecki combined for 10-straight points to build a double-digit lead.
St. Ambrose took a five-point lead with them into the locker room, but the Titans immediately erased the deficit in the opening minute of the second frame.
The Bees reclaimed the lead off a pair of Ben Schols free throws, but the Titans would piece together a 10-0 run with five minutes to play that put the game out of reach.
After shooting a scorching hot 56-percent and 45-percent from three in the first, the Fighting Bees cooled off in the second half; the Bees shot a mere 32-percent from the floor and under 13-percent from deep in the final 20 minutes.
The Fighting Bees entered the contest tied for eighth-place in the conference stadnings with the University of St. Francis (Ill.), a team they bested on Wednesday night 67-63. USF fell to IU-Northwest Saturday afternoon, leaving both St. Ambrose and St. Francis with a final conference record of 10-12. A tiebreaker will be needed to determine who will claim the last spot in the conference tournament.
The tiebreaker will be based on a scoring system that gives various points to wins and losses both at home and on the road based on the opponent's position in the standings at the time of the game. The tiebreaker will be determined late Sunday night.