Despite 20 points and 14 rebounds from Mike Kennedy, St. Ambrose was unable to hold onto a double-digit lead and fell at Clarke 80-71 Saturday afternoon. The loss dropped the Bees to 18-7 overall and 7-5 in the Midwest Collegiate Conference.

The Bees started quickly. Justin Tiner hit back-to-back 3-pointers to start the scoring and SAU led 11-2 just three minutes into the contest. The lead was 16 points late in the half and the Bees were in front 41-28 at the break.

The second half was a different story. Clarke (12-14, 5-8 MCC) scored the first seven points of the second half to get to within 41-35 and the Crusaders slowly chipped away from there.

The Bees maintained a one-point lead with just over six minutes to play but Clarke scored the next nine points to take control at 69-61 with 2:19 left.

SAU got as close as four points on a Kennedy three-point play with 1:34 on the clock but the Bees could get no closer.

After shooting 48 percent in the first half, St. Ambrose cooled to less than 27 percent shooting in the second half. Meanwhile, the Crusaders shot 52 percent over the final 20 minutes and hit 5-of-9 from beyond the arc in the second half.

Chris Donnelly (15 points), Justin Tiner (12) and Justin Blondell (11) joined Kennedy in double figures in the loss.

The Bees will host Mount Mercy at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in an important MCC matchup.