JOLIET, Ill. -- A late 19-9 run by St. Ambrose University made things interesting for the University of St. Francis men's basketball team on Tuesday night in opening-round play of the 2025 Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference Tournament.  The No. 8-seeded Fighting Bees rallied from a 12-point second-half deficit to come within two points, but a key block from Aitor Anabitarte in the final minute of the game helped the No. 1-seeded Fighting Saints hang on for a 65-59 victory.

Anabitarte led the hosts with 19 points, while also gaining top honors in both rebounds (11) and blocked shots (two).  Rahmel Davis added another 14 points, which included two three-pointers, and Ben Faatz contributed six points and seven rebounds.  Anabitarte and Faatz also combined to convert 8-of-10 attempts from the charity stripe.

An 18-4 St. Francis run that started late in the first half and extended through the first four minutes of the second half turned a 27-21 deficit at the stop into a 39-31 advantage with 16:06 remaining in the contest.  Six points from Merrick Small, including a pair of layups at the start of the second half, and another four from Anabitarte, keyed the turnaround.  Sean Richardson also came away with a breakaway steal in the closing seconds of the first half to give the Saints their final points of that frame.

St. Francis (23-5) extended its lead to 52-40 with 10 minutes remaining in the contest before St. Ambrose got back into the game with its 19-9 scoring surge during a seven-minute stretch.  That made it a 61-59 game with just over three minutes to play.

Head coach Ryan Marks' club was quick to respond, answering with an Anabitarte layup on USF's next possession to push the score to 63-59.  With 30 seconds to go in the game, Anabitarte's block of a SAU layup forced St. Ambrose to foul in order to regain possession.  St. Francis would leave the door open for the Bees by converting on just 2-of-4 tries from the charity stripe down the stretch, but three missed SAU three-point attempts sealed the four-point victory for the Saints.

USF finished the game converting at a .442 clip overall from the field (23-of-52) and .429 from three-point range (6-of-14), but was just .619 at the foul line (13-of-21).  St. Ambrose finished at .385 from the floor (25-of-65), .208 (5-of-24) from beyond the arc and 1.000 from the foul line, but coaxed just four charity stripe attempts on the night.  The Bees were also out-boarded 46-28.

St. Francis outscored the guests 15-9 on second-chance points, highlighted by 13 offensive rebounds among its 46 total, while the Bees took advantage of USF's sloppy ball handling by claiming an 18-2 advantage on points off turnovers.

Ignacio Dacunda and Will Spriggs topped St. Ambrose's chart with 12 points each.  Collin Wainscott provided another 10 points for the Bees.

Up Next
The win puts the Saints in a semifinal-round matchup with No. 5-seeded Olivet Nazarene University on Thursday (Feb. 27).  Tip-off will commence at 7 pm in the Pat Sullivan Center.

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