St. Ambrose couldn't get enough stops down the stretch in losing its first game of the season, an 83-75 setback at Clarke Wednesday night.

The Bees, who trailed for much of the contest, got within two possessions several times in the final minutes.

A three-point play from Jake Friel trimmed what had been as large as a 15-point deficit to 63-58 with 8:29 to play. But Clarke (2-2) immediately answered with a jumper to push the lead back to seven. Will Spriggs hit two free throws to again cut the gap to five at 65-60 before the Pride scored five in a row.

Jumpers from Guillermo Narbona and Ignacio Dacunda pulled SAU to within 72-66 with under five minutes to go, but less than a minute later, Clarke responded with a 3-pointer to go up 75-66.

Inside the final two minutes St. Ambrose (2-1) made a final push as Friel converted two free throws and followed that with a three-point play to trim the deficit to 77-73. THe teams traded baskets as Narbona's shot put the score at 79-75 with a minute remaining. Clarke got free for a dunk, and after the Bees came up empty, the Pride hit two free throws to close out the scoring.

Despite shooting only 40.6 percent overall from the floor, the Bees were able to stay close thanks to an 11-of-25 touch from beyond the arc. Elgin Bowen Jr. was 5-for-7 on threes to finish with a game-high 15 points. Nathan Moeller came off the bench to hit all three of his 3-point tries to score nine.

Friel scored 13 points to go along with six assists. Dacunda netted 12 points and Narbona dropped in 10 and grabbed a team-high eight rebounds.

Atem Agot (eight points) and Spriggs (six) combined for 14 points off the SAU bench.

The Bees are back at it Saturday with a game at Mount Mercy before playing an exhibition at NCAA Division I Western Illinois Sunday.