A young and inexperienced St. Ambrose team experienced some growing pains Wednesday night at CCAC heavyweight Olivet Nazarene. The Bees, who started four freshmen, were unable to maintain a fast start in a 96-56 road loss.

SAU went toe-to-toe with one of the conference preseason favorites in the early going, and when Ignacio Dacunda knocked down a 3-pointer, the Bees held a 23-20 lead nearly halfway through the first half.

But the next 10-and-a-half minutes weren't as kind.

St. Ambrose closed the half by making just two of its final 16 field goal attempts. The Bees misfired on their final eight shots of the half. That allowed an Olivet Nazarene team, who finally found its shooting touch, to go on a game-altering 33-5 run.

The only Bee points during the stretch came on layups from Amarey Wills and Dacunda and a Wills free throw. It put St. Ambrose in a 53-28 hole at the half.

Jayven Jones and Wills combined for all the points of an 8-0 run early in the second half that cut the margin to 55-36. But minutes later, the Tigers polished off a 13-2 run to push the lead to 68-38. Olivet Nazarene (4-1, 1-0 CCAC) led comfortably from there.

While ONU shot at a better than 54-percent clip, SAU shot just 33.3 percent from the field. That included a 3-of-20 mark from 3-point range. The Bees were also just 7-of-14 from the line.

Dacunda was the lone Bee to score in double figures. He came off the bench to net 14 points. Jones scored eight points. Wills and Tyson White scored seven points apiece. Andrew Morrissey and Patrick Torrey each dropped in five points. Morrissey grabbed a game-high 14 rebounds in defeat.

St. Ambrose, now 1-5 overall and 0-3 in the CCAC, will return home to host Trinity Christian Saturday afternoon.