St. Ambrose battled back from what was a 13-point deficit only to come up empty at the end in a 71-67 home loss to Trinity Christian Friday afternoon.

After the Bees forged a 65-65 tie on an Andrew Morrissey offensive rebound and putback inside the final minute, the Trolls were a perfect 6-of-6 from the line. After the first two free throws gave TCC a 67-65 lead with 24 seconds left, SAU had a chance to tie, but a turnover forced the Bees to foul.

With their work from the line, the Trolls never gave the Bees a chance. Will Spriggs answered with two free throws of his own to cut the deficit to 69-67 with seven seconds left before Trinity Christian (6-8, 2-6 CCAC) sealed the win a second later. 

St. Ambrose (3-9, 2-6 CCAC) was able to make it close late after a slow start. The Trolls led 15-5 just six minutes into the game and led 39-26 before Jake Friel buried a 3-pointer right before the halftime buzzer to cut the deficit to 39-29.

The Bees continued to chip away and eventually pulled even on a Grant Mason triple seven minutes into the second half. Another Mason three a minute later handed SAU its first lead at 51-50. The lead grew to 53-50 after two Mason free throws. Trinity Christian came back and took a 58-57 lead. The Bees never led again.

St. Ambrose shot 10-of-29 from 3-point range, but connected on just 15-of-40 from inside the arc.

Morrissey and Mason shared team-high honors with 15 points apiece. Spriggs scored 13 and Friel added seven to go along with seven assists. Kieran Farrell scored five, Jayven Jones had four, and Nikola Zelenovic and Ignacio Dacunda each scored three. Nathan Moeller added the other two.

The Bees will host Olivet Nazarene next Wednesday.