Despite 18 points and 17 rebounds from Sam Ainsworth, St. Ambrose dropped its Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference opener to Roosevelt 73-68 Wednesday night in Lee Lohman Arena.

The loss drops the Bees to 1-4 overall and 0-1 in the CCAC.

After a fast start that saw SAU take an early five-point lead behind five quick points from Jacoby Posley, the Bees played from behind the majority of the game.

St. Ambrose stayed within striking distance and made a charge midway through the second half.

Back-to-back offensive rebounds and putbacks from Ainsworth started a 7-0 run that was capped by a pair of free throws from Geordon Hetherton to tie the score at 57-57 with 6:18 to play.

But Roosevelt (3-3, 1-0 CCAC) had the answer. The Lakers came back with five straight points of their own to rebuild a 62-57 lead.

SAU got back to within three points twice, the last time coming on a Demetrius Butler layup to cut the margin to 64-61 with 3:18 remaining. Down five with just under three minutes to go, the Bees had plenty of opportunities to get back to within a single possession, but SAU came up empty with two missed shots, a turnover and a miss on the front end of a 1-and-1 before Roosevelt hit two free throws to take a 68-61 lead with 1:01 left. The Lakers did enough from the line from there to hold off the Bees.

SAU was able to stay close despite shooting just 35.7 percent from the floor and getting outscored 20-10 from the line.

Butler had 13 points and seven boards to support Ainsworth. Posley finished with eight points.

St. Ambrose will visit CCAC foe Purdue Calumet Saturday at 11 a.m. before taking a weeklong trip to Ireland following the game.