No. 22 ONU UNABLE TO KEEP PACE WITH SAU IN 92-84 ROAD LOSS

DAVENPORT, Iowa – The No. 22 Olivet Nazarene University men's basketball team fell behind early and could not catch back up in a 92-84 setback at St. Ambrose Wednesday evening in Lee Lohman Arena.

The home team shot nearly 47 percent from the floor, including a 50-percent mark in the first half, while forcing 15 ONU turnovers to hand the Tigers their second straight loss.

After St. Ambrose (11-8, 8-3 CCAC) raced out to an early lead, back-to-back layups from Eli Edwards knotted the score at 24-24 at the midway point of the opening period. But the Tigers would miss their next four field goal attempts and cough up two turnovers, allowing the Bees to go on a 9-2 run. Griffin Andricks eventually snapped the run with a layup, but the Tigers were unable to close the gap from there.

A Landon Pflederer layup cut the deficit to 38-36 with two minutes left in the half, but St. Ambrose (11-8, 8-3 CCAC) closed out the period with nine points to take a 47-41 lead into the break.

The Bees had an answer for everything ONU threw at them in the second half, not allowing the Tigers to go on a substantial run and leading for the entirety of the final 20 minutes. Tyler Schmidt and Edwards combined for seven unanswered points to knock the deficit to 49-48 three minutes into the period, but SAU responded with a 14-6 run to blow the game wide open.

Schmidt led ONU with a heroic 32 points on 11-of-23 shooting, including four 3-pointers and a perfect 6-for-6 performance from the free-throw line. He has now scored 30 or more points in three straight games and four of his last five.

Andricks recorded his first double-double of the season with 16 points and a game-high 10 rebounds. Sam Emich and Edwards each netted 12. Pflederer, Caleb Swearingen, and Daniel Murphy each had four.

The Tigers, now 13-5 overall and 7-3 in league play, will return to McHie Arena Saturday for a CCAC tilt against Judson.

--ONU—

*Contact: Evan Wild, Sports Information Director, ewwild@olivet.edu