CHICAGO – Roosevelt raced out to an 18-2 lead and never looked back, cruising past St. Ambrose 84-56 on Saturday at the Goodman Center in a Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference matchup.

The Lakers (13-6, 10-1 CCAC) came out flying in their first home game in nearly a month and forced a timeout from the Fighting Bees just 1:55 into the game. St. Ambrose shot just 29.6 percent from the field in the first half as the Lakers cruised to a 16-point halftime lead. That relentless defensive wave continued to swarm St. Ambrose in the second half as well as Roosevelt limited the Fighting Bees to 31.3 percent shooting in the game.

With its defense connected, the Lakers were flowing on offense as well with a complete team effort. Five players finished in double figures and no one scored more than 13 points with Roosevelt shooting 47.7 percent from the field and 10 of 28 from 3-point range. It was a three-way tie for the team lead in points with Maurice Commander, Julio Montes II and Shane Stevensen all hitting lucky 13 in the game. Ayo Ajiboye added 10 points and Jared Bohrer sank 3 of 5 from long range and added a pair of technical free throws to finish with 11 points.

Stevensen was the early engine for the Lakers with seven of Roosevelt's first 11 points after missing his first shot of the game. The freshman also grabbed 10 rebounds to finish with his first career double-double with a career best in rebounding. His presence in the middle for the Lakers went a long way to helping the team finish with a 40-18 edge in points in the paint and a 43-31 advantage on the glass.

Chima Nwosu provided a lively spark off the bench for Roosevelt with seven points and nine rebounds, tying his season high on the backboards. In particular, Nwosu's athleticism helped bring some needed energy to the Lakers after the Fighting Bees battled to within five points with four minutes left in the first half. Roosevelt closed the half on an 11-0 run with Nwosu and Stevensen combining to affect St. Ambrose's shots around the basket.

The Lakers managed to force just 12 turnovers in the game, but they turned those takeaways into 15 points. They also converted 13 offensive rebounds into 17 second-chance points and were able to run in transition for 11 fastbreak points.

With a second straight 25-plus-point victory, it is just the second time in program history, the Lakers have won consecutive games by at least 20 points. It is also the fourth time in program history that Roosevelt has two 20-point conference wins in the same season.

Roosevelt returns to the court Wednesday for a battle between two of the CCAC's top-three teams with a matchup against Olivet Nazarene at 7:30 p.m. in Bourbonnais.