St. Ambrose reversed a recent trend in defeating Governors State 83-70 in University Park, Ill., Wednesday night.

The Bees, who had fallen behind early in losing their last three games, came out strong from the start.

SAU shot 50 percent overall from the floor and even better from beyond the arc (5-of-9) in jumping to a 44-27 halftime lead. And as good as the offense was, the defense was even better. Governors State (6-17, 4-11 CCAC) was limited to a 10-of-35 (28.6 percent) start from the field, including a 1-of-10 effort from 3-point range, over the game's first 20 minutes.

St. Ambrose (12-11, 9-6 CCAC) continued its hot shooting, knocking down 12-of-22 attempts from the floor in the second half. GSU improved to a 40-percent mark after halftime, but connected on just 1-of-6 second-half threes.

The Bees allowed the Jaguars to close the gap by committing 17 turnovers in the second half.

Governors State got within 45-40 before an Elgin Bowen Jr. 3-pointer restored an eight-point lead. St. Ambrose maintained the lead from there. GSU made it 75-68 with a minute left before Grant Mason hit four straight free throws. Jake Friel closed out the win with four points in the final 11 seconds.

Will Spriggs led three Bees in double figures with 16 points. Ignacio Dacunda and Atem Agot each posted a double-double. Dacunda came off the bench to contribute 15 points and 12 rebounds while Agot added 14 points and 11 boards.

Mason and Friel each finished with nine points. Collin Wainscott scored eight, Bowen Jr. had six, Ryan Kenney dropped in four and Guillermo Narbona added two.

SAU will visit Indiana South Bend Saturday.