The Road to Nationals Goes Through Lee Lohman Arena

The St. Ambrose Fighting Bees (19-13) continued their hot shooting against the Viterbo V-Hawks (15-18), by shooting 67% from the field en route to a 95-71 victory. Twelve Fighting Bees contributed to the all-around great effort and the victory matches the Fighting Bees up with the Mt. Mercy Mustangs on Tuesday at 7:30 at Lee Lohman Arena.  

All-conference guard, Matt Fitzpatrick, only played four minutes due to a pre-game injury, but Jason Geering provided the spark both offensively and defensively. Geering played 29 minutes and tallied 8 points, three assists and provided the Fighting Bees with his senior leadership.

St. Ambrose jumped out to a 16-2 lead in the first seven minutes and extended the lead to 28-6 with 9:25 remaining in the first half. The V-Hawks came right back at the Bees with a 24-12 run of their own to cut the lead to 12 at the half. Tom Pavljasevic and Brett Jacobs combined for 23 first half points, as they shot 10 of 14. As a team, the Fighting Bees shot 65.5% in the first half and held the V-Hawks to 47.4%.

The V-Hawks scored on their first possession, with a Tim Porterfield jumper to cut the lead to 10, but that would be as close as they would get. 

The Fighting Bees would counter with Karl Petersen, who scored six of the team's next 10 points to open the gap to 17. Back to back 3-pointers by Geering and Pavljasevic extended the lead to 21 with 14 minutes left to play.

Tim Porterfield and V-Hawks were able to shave the deficit to 15 with 6:02 remaining, but could never get any closer than that. A Chad Tancil lay-up with 3:27 left, would put the Fighting Bees up 88-68 to put the seal on a 95-71 victory.

The Fighting Bees' bench, led by Geering, Curtis Clark, Nick Ferreira, Jon Digmann and Freddy Lofombo, played one of their best game's of the season, as they posted a collaborative 29 points, 9 rebounds and 12 assists. Clark led the bench with 11 points and Lofombo grabbed 5 rebounds to go with a career-high 6 assists.

Pavljasevic led five Fighting Bees into double figures with 25 points on 10 for 15 shooting. Brett Jacobs finished with 16 points, Chad Tancil added 15 and Karl Petersen finished with 10 points and grabbed 9 rebounds.

The Fighting Bees out-rebounded the V-Hawks 32 to 25 and held the V-Hawks to 44% shooting from the field.

Mark Kumlien led Viterbo with 14 points and Tim Porterfield added 12.

Next up for the Fighting Bees will be the Mt. Mercy Mustangs, who defeated Iowa Wesleyan 74-73. The Fighting Bees lead the season series 2-0 and will look for a chance to go to the National Tournament. Gametime is 7:30 on Tuesday, at Lee Lohman Arena. 

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