The Bees shook off a slow start to breeze past Calumet St. Joseph 82-56 in a first round game of the CCAC Tournament Tuesday night.

St. Ambrose, seeded third in the 15-team field, will host No. 11-seed Indiana Northwest in a quarterfinal game Thursday. IU Northwest defeated Trinity Christian 88-63 Tuesday.

The SAU defense was simply too much for CCSJ. The Crimson Wave (1-9) shot less than 27 percent from the floor, including a 25-percent effort in the second half.

After outscoring the Crimson Wave 14-6 over the final seven minutes of the first half to take a 40-23 lead at the break, the Bees overwhelmed the Wave to start the second. CCSJ missed its first 11 shots of the second half SAU scored 15 straight points to open up a 55-23 lead. The Wave ended their nearly nine-minute scoreless spell with a 3-pointer but they would get no closer than 28 points the rest of the way. Including the end of the first half, St. Ambrose held Calumet without a point for more than 11 consecutive minutes.

The SAU offense recovered to post 82 points after scoring just seven points over the game's first eight minutes.

A John Kerr 3-pointer accounted for the team's only points in the first five minutes. Single free throws from Patrick Torrey and Michael Williams and a layup from Ben Schols had St. Ambrose down 9-7 eight minutes into the game.

But Kerr and Nathan Moeller split the next 10 Bee points over a 90-second stretch to open up a 17-10 lead. SAU slowly pulled away from there, building a 20-point lead before settling for the 40-23 lead at the break.

All 15 Bees in uniform played at least five minutes and 13 different Bees scored.

Kerr led the way with 13 points and eight boards. Williams scored 12 to go along with nine rebounds while Moeller dropped in 10. Schols and Will Spriggs each scored eight points, Zach Sullivan had seven, and Torrey finished with eight.

Jake Conerty matched Williams with a game-high nine rebounds and he led all players with three assists.

St. Ambrose is now 15-5 overall.

Videos below courtesy SAUtv

John Kerr's three-point play gives SAU the lead for good at 10-9

John Kerr gives SAU an early 14-9 lead

Nathan Moeller with a 3-pointer for a 17-10 lead

Michael Williams scores for a 25-17 lead

Ben Schols opens up a 30-17 lead with a 3-pointer

Another Ben Schols three ups the lead to 37-17

Dylan Kaczmarek hits a three early in the second half for a 45-23 lead

Will Spriggs caps a 15-0 run to open the second half for a 55-23 lead

Will Spriggs drives for two to extend the lead to 57-27

Zach Sullivan knocks down a triple to push the lead to 72-39

Cameron Kalmas buries a triple for a 77-41 lead