Despite a furious late rally, St. Ambrose wasn't able to overcome a poor shooting night from the floor in a 90-78 home loss to Indiana Northwest Wednesday night.

The Bees shot just 28-of-73 from the field, a 38.4 percent mark, and were just 4-of-28 (14.3 percent) from beyond the arc. That wasn't enough against an IUNW team that shot better than 49 percent from the floor, including a 6-of-15 effort from 3-point range, and had three players combine for 64 points.

The offensive struggles came after a great start for St. Ambrose. The Bees hit their first four shots from the floor, two of those coming from Jake Friel, in building an 8-0 lead minutes into the contest. SAU cooled from there but trailed just 38-31 at the half.

The shooting woes made it difficult for the Bees to keep pace in the second half. SAU was just 15-of-43 from the field after halftime as Indiana Northwest (8-11, 7-5 CCAC) slowly pulled away.

The RedHawks led by as many as 21 points midway through the second half. But the Bees turned up their defensive intensity down the stretch. After forcing just five turnovers through the game's first 30 minutes, the Bees turned the RedHawks over eight times over the last 10 minutes.

A Grant Mason 3-pointer and a Will Spriggs steal and layup capped a 13-2 run that cut the St. Ambrose deficit to 76-66 with 3:25 left. Then inside the final 90 seconds, Mason hit 1-of-2 from the line but Spriggs came away with the offensive rebound and scored inside to get the Bees to within 81-74. But IU Northwest hit four straight free throws to rebuild a double-digit lead and the SAU comeback ran out of steam.

Mason and Andrew Morrissey led St. Ambrose with 17 points apiece. Spriggs finished with 15. Those three combined for 38 of the team's 47 second-half points.

Friel and Nathan Moeller each scored 10 points to give the Bees five players in double figures. Kieran Farrell finished with five points. Morrissey grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds in the loss.

SAU, now 3-12 overall and 2-9 in the CCAC, will visit Trinity Christian Saturday.