11th-Ranked Roosevelt Routs St. Ambrose, Inches Closer To First Title

DAVENPORT, Iowa – No. 11 Roosevelt set up a chance at winning the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference title with a 91-65 beatdown of St. Ambrose on Wednesday night in Davenport, Iowa.

The newly-minted 11^th-ranked Lakers (21-3, 16-1 CCAC) opened up the game with a 21-1 run over the final seven minutes of the first half to leave no doubt about the result. Forte Prater opened the stretch with a 3-pointer and six different Lakers scored to push the lead from three points to 23 at halftime. Prater and Julio Montes II both finished in double figures over the opening 20 minutes while Sangolay Njie added nine points in the first half.

Roosevelt was able to extend the lead out to as many as 34 in the second half and it dipped below 20 for all of 22 seconds before Montes hit a 3-pointer early in the second half. Montes finished with 20 points and four assists to lead the Lakers in both categories while Prater added 17 and Njie had 15 points. That trio finished shooting 55 percent from the field to help Roosevelt's percentage creep above 50 percent for the game.

Defense was again a major story for the Lakers as Roosevelt held the Fighting Bees to just 36 percent shooting in the first half. The Lakers also limited St. Ambrose to less than 25 percent for the game from behind the arc and scored 20 points off just 10 takeaways. Roosevelt won the rebounding battle 41-33 in large part due to the efforts of Cody Mitchell, who grabbed 12 boards, as well as the aggressiveness of David Swedura and Malcolm Townsel, who each secured seven.

Although Wednesday's victory only shrank the Lakers' magic number down to two to claim the No. 1 seed in the CCAC Tournament later this month, Roosevelt can clinch the outright title Saturday. The Lakers will face off against second-place Indiana South Bend at 3 p.m. at the Goodman Center with a chance to move three games clear of the Titans with two games remaining.