Despite a career-high 34 points from Will Spriggs, St. Ambrose stumbled to a 97-89 loss at Trinity International Tuesday afternoon.

Spriggs did everything for the Bees. He was 15-of-27 from the floor, grabbed six rebounds, handed out five assists, came up with seven steals and blocked a shot. But his heroics weren't enough to complete a second-half rally.

The Bees, who never led, trailed 50-34 at the half. Spriggs, who had just eight points in the opening half, scored SAU's first seven points of the second. But it barely made a dent as Trinity International (6-6, 3-3 CCAC) maintained a 63-49 advantage six minutes into the second half.

Then Ignacio Dacunda ignited a St. Ambrose run. His three-point play started a 12-4 run that didn't feature a single point from Spriggs. Kieran Farrell knocked down a three, Amarey Wills scored and Dacunda had seven during the spurt that cut the margin to 67-61.

Then Spriggs again got involved, hitting a free throw and a 3-pointer to trim the deficit to 69-65 midway through the half.

The Trojans responded with five straight points and led by at least seven points until the final 80 seconds. Spriggs scored inside to get the Bees to within 88-83 with 1:18 left. St. Ambrose twice got within four points, the last time coming at 93-89 on a Grant Mason layup, but TIU hit 9-of-10 free throws down the stretch to hold off the comeback.

The Bees shot better than 48 percent from the floor, connecting on 37-of-77 from the field, but converted just 9-of-20 from the line.

They also struggled to stop the Trojans, who shot at a 56.4-percent clip, including a 10-of-21 effort from beyond the arc, and made 25-of-30 free throws.

SAU was also out-rebounded 38-26 in dropping its third straight game.

Dacunda joined Spriggs in coming off the bench and scoring double figures as he netted 12. Mason and Andrew Morrissey each scored 10. Wills finished with nine points. Nathan Moeller dropped in four.

St. Ambrose, now 2-8 overall and 1-5 in the CCAC, will play an exhibition game at Drake Wednesday at 1 p.m.