Men's Basketball Defeats St. Ambrose 92-75 for Third Straight CCAC Conference Victory

CHICAGO – The Roosevelt University men's basketball team won its third straight CCAC Conference game with a 92-75 victory over St. Ambrose University (Iowa) on Thursday, December 9 at the Goodman Center.  The win raised the Lakers conference record to 5-2 and their overall record to 8-4 on the year.

St. Ambrose took a 4-0 lead over the Lakers to begin the contest, but the home team scored the next eight points on three-pointers from Ayomide Ajiboye and Eetu Villa and two-point basket by Matt Myers.  The Fighting Bees answered with a 10-1 run to go ahead 14-9 with 14:11 left in the first half, but Myers scored on a three-point play and Anthony Martinez knocked down a trey to put RU back in front at 15-14. 

The two teams continued to trade the lead until a Mark Johnson layup gave the Lakers a 27-26 advantage with 8:51 remaining, a lead that RU would not relinquish the rest of the way.  The Lakers increased their lead to 11 points, including at the half, heading to the locker room with a 48-37 lead.

The Lakers began the second half with an 8-0 run behind four points from Myers to lead 56-37.  Roosevelt kept up the offensive dominance, pushing its lead to as large as 23 points to 70-47 on a Lucas Jordan three with 10:20 on the clock and to 72-49 on a dunk by Josh Redic with 9:18 to go.  St. Ambrose made a late push, and cut the deficit to 13 points at 82-69 with just under three minutes left to play, but the Lakers regained control of the contest and closed out the game with a 92-75 win.

GAME DETAILS

Score:   St. Ambrose       37           38           75
                Roosevelt            48           44           92

Records: Roosevelt 8-4, 5-2 (CCAC) | St. Ambrose 4-7, 3-4 (CCAC)

Location: Goodman Center | Chicago, Ill.

KEY STATS

• Matt Myers scored a team-high 16 points to go with six rebounds & four assists
• Josh Redic tallied 15 points & six rebounds
• Lucas Jordan added 15 points & three steals off the bench
• Eetu Villa chipped in with 12 points
• Ayomide Ajiboye registered eight points, six rebounds, & four assists
• Mark Johnson dished out a game-high five points
• The Lakers shot 50% overall & 42.9% from three-point range
• The Fighting Bees shot 47.1% from the field & 46.2% from behind the arc
• RU only had five turnovers in the game & held a 30-2 advantage in points off turnovers

NEWS & NOTES

• The Lakers are now 8-6 versus the Fighting Bees in the all-time series
• Click here to view the current CCAC Conference standings

NEXT UP

The Lakers host seventh ranked Indiana Wesleyan University on Saturday, December 11.  The non-conference contest begins at 3pm at the Goodman Center in Chicago.