[Men's Basketball] SAU loses top-25 showdown to No. 6 Olivet Nazarene

A top-25 showdown and a battle for first place in the CCAC turned to disappoint as No. 16 St. Ambrose struggled to get anything going in a 98-75 loss to No. 6 Olivet Nazarene Saturday afternoon inside Lee Lohman Arena.

The Bees (10-3, 6-1 CCAC) fell behind 5-0 and were out of sync all afternoon as they lost their first conference game of the year.

The deficit was 38-27 at the half and five minutes into the second half, the margin was 20 points. Seconds later, after a Dylan Kaczmarek jumper, a 14-0 Tiger run pushed the margin to 71-39.

After shooting just 33 percent in the opening half, the Bees shot better than 44 percent in the second half. But they did nothing to slow the Tigers as Olivet Nazarene (13-1, 7-1 CCAC) shot nearly 62 percent from the floor over the game's final 20 minutes. 

Michael Williams and John Kerr led St. Ambrose with 14 points apiece. Tom Kazanecki and Warren Allen each scored 12 points. Isaiah Harvey chipped in with eight points.

Harvey, Allen and Kaczmarek each grabbed six rebounds in defeat.

SAU will step out of conference for a game at Mount Mercy Monday night.