CCAC

[Men's Basketball] Bees down Trolls off clutch free-throw shooting

The St. Ambrose Fighting Bees shot a cool 21-of-25 from the free-throw line, including 7-of-8 in the final minute of the game, to take down Trinity Christian Saturday afternoon in Lee Lohman Arena.Will Spriggs hit 5-of-6 from the charity stripe while Grant Mason and Jake Conerty came off the bench to knock down 14 combined free throws. All three of these players, along with sophomore guard Jake Friel, hit clutch free throws in the final minute of the game to seal the win at 81-69.Trinity Christian (9-11, 5-8 CCAC) got off to a fast start, building a 10-point lead over the Fighting Bees at the midway point of the first half. The Bees mounted a comeback off the energy from a Spriggs breakaway dunk followed by a Tom Kazanecki three to give St. Ambrose the lead.St. Ambrose would keep hold of this lead for the remainder of the game, largely in part to their effort on the defensive side of the ball. The Trolls were limited to just one made basket in the first four-and-a-half minutes of the second half.The Bees limited Trinity Christian to under 38% shooting on the game while racking up seven steals.Conerty scored all of his 11 points in the second half to lead the Bees down the stretch. Trinity Christian began to foul late in the game, but St. Ambrose hit their free throws to secure the win.Spriggs led all scorers with 20 points. Kazanecki chipped in 15 points and grabbed 14 rebounds to mark his eighth double-double while Conerty snagged 12 boards to tally his first double-double of the season.  Mason scored 13 points off the bench, with 10 of those points coming from the free-throw line.The big home win moves the Bees to 8-12 overall and 7-8 in the CCAC. They will take a break from conference action with a home game against Clarke on Sunday.