CCAC

[Men's Basketball] SAU bows out in CCAC Tournament quarterfinals

There was not much St. Ambrose could do.The Bees watched Indiana Northwest connect on 15-of-32 3-point attempts in a 96-75 loss in the quarterfinals of the CCAC Tournament Thursday night.The loss, which dropped SAU to 15-6, means the Bees no longer control their own NAIA National Tournament destiny. St. Ambrose needs top-seed Olivet Nazarene to win the conference tournament to grab the league's third automatic bid to nationals.SAU just had no answer for the Redhawks' shooting, especially in the first half when the Bees struggled to get much going offensively.St. Ambrose (15-6) shot just 34 percent in the opening half, including a 1-of-10 mark from beyond the arc. But SAU battled through it and trailed just 25-22 after a pair of Will Spriggs free throws with 5:49 remaining.But Indiana Northwest (7-8) would close the half on a 20-7 run, behind four 3-pointers, to lead 45-29 at the break.SAU fell behind by as many as 25 before finding a bit of a spark. Two 3-pointers from Kyle Rohr and another from John Kerr fueled a 13-2 run that closed the gap to 65-51 at the midway point of the second half.The momentum stopped there. Behind three triples, IUN ripped off a 17-5 run over the next five minutes to rebuild an 82-56 lead, forcing the Bees to look to Olivet Nazarene to keep their season alive.The Redhawks shot better than 62 percent from the floor in the second half, which included an 8-of-15 mark from 3-point range. They finished at nearly 52 percent from the field for the game.Kerr led St. Ambrose with 24 points and seven rebounds. Rohr came off the bench to hit 5-of-8 from the floor in scoring 12 points. Michael Williams added 11. Patrick Torrey scored six points while Spriggs and Jake Conerty each netted five.