No. 13 Mount Mercy used a 17-2 run midway through the second half to get past St. Ambrose 88-79 Wednesday night in Lee Lohman Arena.

The Bees went toe-to-toe with the nationally-ranked Mustangs.

Tied at 37-37 at the half, SAU opened the second half on a 15-7 run. Two Nick Frazier free throws capped the spurt to give St. Ambrose its largest lead of the night at 52-44 with 14:26 to play.

But then the Bees went cold. SAU missed six straight shots, and seven of eight, and Midwest Collegiate Conference-leading Mount Mercy took advantage. The Mustangs (23-4, 10-1 MCC) used a 3-pointer and a pair of three-point plays as part of their 17-2 run that gave them a 61-54 edge with 8:30 left.

The lead grew to 14 points before Frazier and Ty McLane sparked a run to get the Bees close. The two combined for nine straight SAU points to cut the deficit to six with two minutes remaining, but the Bees never got any closer.

St. Ambrose finished with 19 more field goal attempts than Mount Mercy, in large part thanks to 14 offensive rebounds, but the Mustangs won the game at the line, outscoring the Bees 28-9 on free throws.

Each team had five players finish in double figures. Frazier led SAU with 18 points. McLane and Paul Beene each scored 14 and Darian White and Sam Ainsworth each dropped in 12. Ainsworth also pulled down a game-high 13 rebounds in the loss.

St. Ambrose, now 15-14 overall, fall into a three-way tie for third place in the MCC. SAU, William Penn and Grand View are all 6-5 in the league with the regular season wrapping up Saturday.

Mount Mercy has already won the regular season championship and earned a first-round bye in the MCC Tournament. The second, third and fourth seeds will each host a first round game next Wednesday night.

SAU will visit Viterbo Saturday at 6 p.m. with hopes of grabbing home-court advantage in the first round of the conference playoffs.