No. 19 Fighting Bees Suffer First Loss of Season

The No. 19 ranked St. Ambrose Fighting Bees (3-1) lost for the first time this season in the championship game of the St. Ambrose Classic to the Bellevue, Neb., Bruins by the final score of 74-66.

The Fighting Bees were in control for much of the game, but could not put it away.

Leading the way for the Fighting Bees was Matt Fitzpatrick, who scored 20 points on 9-15 shooting.  Also in double figures for the Fighting Bees were Karl Petersen, Brett Jacobs and Tom Pavljasevic.  Petersen came away with 13 points and nine boards, while Jacobs added 11 points and three rebounds.  Pavljasevic finished with ten points and five rebounds to go along with his team high four assists.

With the Fighting Bees jumping out to a quick lead of 11-1 in the games first minutes and maintaining a five point lead with five minutes to go, it looked as if the Fighting Bees would come out victorious.  That was not the case.

Bellevue was led by four players scoring in double figures.  Luther Hall was 8-16 from the field scoring 19 points while grabbing five rebounds.  Brent Heller scored 16 points on 6-8 shooting and had a game high four steals.

Nick Minzel added 12 points and a team high seven boards and T.J. Flannagan dropped in ten points to go along with his six rebounds.

The game was just as close as the stats showed.  No team dominated any certain category, with the exception of three point field goal percentage.  The Fighting Bees shot 22.2% (4-18) from beyond the arc, while Bellevue was 40% (6-15) from way outside.

The Fighting Bees will continue their homestand on Tuesday, November 19 against 2001-2002 NAIA Division I runner-up Robert Morris College.  The game is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.

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