Fighting Bees knocked out

Boxscore

DAVENPORT, IOWA- Beating a team for the third time in one season is a very difficult task as the Fighting Bees found out in the Semi-finals verse William Penn. The Bees had defeated William Penn in the previous two matchups (both wins in double figures) but that was not the story in the third game as the Statesmen upset the Bees 74-71.

The first seven minutes of the game was evenly played with the two teams locked up at 14. The Bees, like they have done so many times this year, went on a big run in the final 13 minutes with a 23-10 spurt to go into the half with a 37-24 lead.

Following a Brett Jacobs 3-pointer at the 18:41 mark, the Fighting Bees grabbed what seemed to be a commanding 15 point lead. The big margin would quickly evaporate in only 7:30 minutes, as the Statesmen went on a 20-4 run. The Bees fought back with a Matt Fitzpatrick 3-pointer and a Ryan Johnson bucket to grab back a four point lead, but it wouldn't last for long.

Penn's Sean O'Hare hit two huge 3-pointers to put the Statesmen back on top and they opened up a four point lead with 7:34 left. The to team kept exchanging baskets over the next four minutes, but William Penn hit three straight 3-pointers, while the Bees were only scoring two at a time.

Penn led by five with 1:36 left, but Fitzpatrick hit a bucket to close the gap to three. The Bees then fouled Penn six straight times to put them into the bonus. The move paid off as Chris Klassen missed the front end. Down three with :35 left, the Bees Ryan Johnson missed a 3-pointer with :07 left, but SAU got one more chance with a rebound. Fitzpatrick got the last shot from the top of the key, but the attempt wouldn't fall and so would the Bees.

William Penn shot 65.6% in the second half, including 7 of 9 from behind the arc.

Jacobs led the Bees with 18 points and Karl Petersen had 15 points and 12 boards.

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