Strong defense leads Bees over Tigers

Boxscore

DAVENPORT, IOWA- The No. 2 St. Ambrose Fighting Bees (21-3, 5-1) caused 32 turnovers and only allowed 61 points in an 84-61 victory over Iowa Wesleyan (14-8, 5-1). With the win, St. Ambrose moved into a tie for first place in the Midwest Classic Conference with Viterbo and Iowa Wesleyan.

St. Ambrose jumped out of the gate with a 7-0 lead. The Tigers kept their composure and closed the gap to 11-10 early on. The Bees came right back with a Nick Ferreira jumper and Cory Daniel followed with a huge 3-pointer to propel the Fighting Bees the rest of the way. St. Ambrose rolled from that point and went into the half leading 44-29.

Ferreira scored the first four points of the second half to put the Bees up 19, but Iowa Wesleyan scored the next nine points of the game, in a 2:05 span, to cut the lead to 48-38 with 16:56 left. Senior Brett Jacobs answered the run with a clutch 3-pointer to start a 7-0 run for the Bees. This put St. Ambrose up 55-38 with 14:35 remaining. Iowa Wesleyan never got the lead under 15, as St. Ambrose built the lead up to 26 with only 3:12 left. The Bees moved to 21-3 overall with an 84-61 win.

All five St. Ambrose starters reached double figures in scoring with Matt Fitzpatrick leading the way with 18 points and eight assists. Jacobs and Ferreira each added 14 points, Ryan Johnson scored 11 and Karl Petersen recorded a double-double with 10 points and 14 rebounds. Jesse Hill led the Tigers with 16.

St. Ambrose travels to Mt. Mercy on Saturday to play at 3 pm.

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