St. Ambrose did everything it could to knock off #13 Iowa Wesleyan Friday night except one thing - stop Nate Fuqua - in an 80-79 loss to the conference's top seed in a MCC semifinal game. The Tiger senior scored 43 points, including a three-point play in the final second, to help IWC (23-4) overcome a seven-point deficit in the final four minutes and advance to the Midwest Collegiate Conference Tournament championship game Sunday night.

The Bees led 79-77 in the final minute and got a big defensive stop when Chris Donnelly blocked a 3-point attempt and grabbed the rebound with eight seconds left. But Justin Tiner missed the front end of a one-and-one with five seconds on the clock.

After a timeout, Fuqua capped his night by knocking down a game-tying jumper while getting fouled by Mike Kennedy. His free throw with 0.9 seconds remaining gave the Tigers the win as Justin Blondell's desperation heave at the buzzer was off the mark. Fuqua outscored SAU 14-6 over the game's final four minutes.

St. Ambrose (23-9) led most of the way, which included an 11-point advantage in the first half. Blondell connected on a 3-pointer to give SAU a 67-57 lead with 7:43 left. The Bees maintained a 73-66 lead on a Kennedy layup with four minutes to go but Fuqua single-handedly brought the Tigers back for the win.

Fuqua's night overshadowed another strong performance from Kennedy (pictured right). The Bee junior scored 25 points and pulled down eight rebounds in the loss. Blondell finished with 17 points, Donnelly scored 16 and Tiner added 11.

All three SAU-IWC games this season were one-point affairs with the Tigers taking two out of three. Iowa Wesleyan will face Ashford for the MCC title and an automatic bid into the 2011 NAIA Division II Men's Basketball Championships.