CHICAGO – The Roosevelt men's basketball team struggled mightily from downtown, making just five of its 31 three-point attempts, during a 71-52 loss to visiting St. Ambrose inside the Goodman Center on Monday.

Grant Gibson had a team-high 14 points while Chandler Fuzak added nine and Bennett Fuzak scored eight for the Lakers (15-11, 9-7 CCAC), who entered the game leading the league and ranking ninth nationally in three-point field goals made per game (11.1 3-PT FG mpg). Roosevelt is also less than two weeks removed from back-to-back showings of at least 20 made three-pointers, including a school-record 21 on 36 tries against Indiana South Bend on Jan. 23.

The Lakers' long-range prowess was not present on this night, as the Bees (15-9, 10-6 CCAC) made Roosevelt take tough looks en route to 16 percent three-point shooting, the worst percentage from beyond the arc by the Lakers this season.

St. Ambrose countered with scoring from 6-foot-7 John Kerr. Kerr came off the bench to lead all scorers with 26 points while going 11-for-15 from the floor, all but one of those buckets and attempts coming inside the arc.

Four other SAU players hit double figures, as the Bees scored the game's first seven points and never trailed.

The Lakers fell behind by 15 in the first half and entered intermission trailing by 10. Roosevelt would cut the deficit down to six in the middle of the second half, but Kerr and St. Ambrose proved too much and went back ahead by double digits the rest of the way amidst RU's shooting struggles.

"Another disappointing performance again tonight," Roosevelt head coach Joe Griffin said after his team's second straight loss. "We have lived by the three in the past and today we died by it, and I don't think we collectivley understand yet that your defense and rebounding has to be very good every night regardless of our shooting. Ambrose out-toughed us and out-physicaled us, and their offensive rebounds wore us down.

"Grant had a good midrange game today and we did a good job of keeping our turnovers down, but our shooting was as cold as the recent polar vortex."

Roosevelt faces Saint Xavier at 7 p.m. at the Shannon Center this Wednesday.