[Men's Basketball] Bees rally late to defeat Mustangs 72-69

Jake Conerty scored four points in the final 16 seconds to help St. Ambrose rally from an 11-point second-half deficit for a 72-69 win over Mount Mercy Thursday afternoon at Lee Lohman Arena.

The big play came inside the final 20 seconds. The Bees had cut what was once a 65-54 deficit to just 69-68 on a Ben Schols 3-pointer with 32 seconds to play. Schols then came up with a steal and passed ahead to Conerty, who hit a floater in the lane to give SAU a 70-69 lead with 16 seconds on the clock.

The Mustangs (3-5) came right back but misfired on a long three. Conerty tracked the rebound and was fouled with 0.6 seconds remaining. He knocked down both free throws. Mount Mercy's desperation three from beyond half-court was off the mark at the buzzer.

In all, the Bees outscored the Mustangs 18-4 over the final five-plus minutes, including a 10-1 run over the final 2:25, to move to 5-2 on the season.

It never looked like St. Ambrose would need a second-half comeback after the Bees opened up a 29-20 lead on a John Kerr 3-pointer late in the first half. 

But Mount Mercy scored the final 10 points of the half, including a 3-pointer in the final seconds, to take the lead and then a sloppy second half nearly cost St. Ambrose.

The Bees committed 13 of their 22 turnovers after halftime, allowing the Mustangs to build the double-digit advantage.

But SAU got big baskets from Kerr, Dylan Kaczmarek, Warren Allen, Schols and Conerty down the stretch.

It was Kaczmarek who completed a three-point play to trim the margin to 65-57 seconds after MMU had built its largest lead. Kerr hit a free throw and Allen knocked down a jumper in the lane to cut the deficit to just 65-62 and get SAU back in the came, leading to Schols' and Conerty's late heroics.

Kerr scored 11 of his game-high 19 points in the second half. He also grabbed a game-best 10 rebounds. Kerr hit four 3-pointers in eight attempts, a number matched by Schols, who was a perfect 4-for-4 from 3-point range in scoring 15 points.

Allen (10 points) and Conerty (eight) combined for 18 of the Bee reserves' 23 points.

SAU struggled to slow a Mount Mercy team that shot 50 percent from the floor, but the Bees were aided by a 44-25 rebounding advantage.

Kaczmarek grabbed nine rebounds to go along with his five points and five assists.

St. Ambrose will open 2021 and CCAC play on Saturday at Judson.