Looking for a season sweep of their two-game series, St. Ambrose came up a little short in a 68-64 loss at Olivet Nazarene Wednesday night.

Trailing 29-28 at the half and down 31-28 a minute into the second half, the Bees caught fire. Will Spriggs and Grant Mason each scored four points and Atem Agot knocked down a 3-pointer to fuel an 11-0 run. A jumper from Spriggs capped the run that gave St. Ambrose (12-6, 5-6 CCAC) its largest lead of the game at 39-31 with just under 14 minutes to play.

But SAU immediately let Olivet Nazarene (8-11, 6-5 CCAC) back into the contest as the Tigers responded with 12 straight points of their own. The last points came on a three-point play that handed ONU a 43-39 edge.

St. Ambrose was forced to play catch-up the rest of the way.

The Bees did draw even twice, the first coming on a Collin Wainscott 3-pointer to knot the score at 45-45. Minutes later, Agot made a layup to tie the game at 53-53 with 4:12 left.

Olivet Nazarene knocked down a 3-pointer on its next possession and St. Ambrose had two chances to tie but threes from Wainscott and Spriggs were off the mark.

From there, the Tigers were able to hold off the Bees mainly from the line. ONU converted 10-of-14 free throws in the final three minutes to hold off any SAU rally.

In a game where neither team shot better than 40 percent, where Olivet Nazarene's 39.6-percent effort from the floor was slightly better than SAU's 35.9-percent mark, the Tigers made 20 free throws while the Bees made just 12. St. Ambrose was also out-rebounded 44-35 but were able to stay close thanks to forcing 14 turnovers while commiting just five.

Spriggs led the Bees with 19 points. Wainscott came off the bench to drain three triples in finishing with 11 points. Agot scored 10 to go along with a team-best seven rebounds.

Mason scored six points, Guillermo Narbona and Austin Born each had five, and Kieran Farrell and Solomon Garrison scored four apiece. Narbona added five rebounds and five assists in the loss.

The Bees will look to bounce back Saturday at Holy Cross.