MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – Fourth-seeded St. Thomas, playing at home, led 73-70 with 13 seconds left after Jeremy Dillon nailed a three.
 
They brought it in bounds, but turned it over at midcourt.
 
UPike brought it down court and found Bradley Bunch in the corner. His contested three missed, but the Bears secured the rebound. Keian Worrix beat the buzzer with an off-balanced, defended three, which fell off the rim.
 
And with that, the season ended, three points short of forcing overtime in the first round of the NAIA men's basketball national tournament.
 
The season ended with a record of 23-8, a second-place finish in the first season in the AAC and the second straight berth in the national tournament.
 
The Bears fell behind 4-2 before a quick 7-2 run gave them the early lead. Five points came from the line, with the first three coming from Dillon. After a Milton Matthews layup, Kyonte Thomas made two from the line before finding Dillon for a layup.
 
The 1:35 run put the Bears on top 9-6 with 17:10 left.
 
St. Thomas responded with a 10-2 run of its own. Cearius Warren and Josh Taylor had four each, with Taylor's dunk at 13:20 left giving the Bobcats a 16-11 lead.
 
UPike was soon to score seven straight, with Thomas nailing a three followed by layups by Bunch and Issac Stanback putting the Bears in front 19-18 with 9:30 left in the half.
 
Trailing 28-26 with 4:41 left, the Bears went on a 9-2 run. The stretch began and ended with baskets by Stanback, who had 13 points at the half, and put the Bears on top 35-30 with 2:28 left.
 
St. Thomas answered with seven straight, getting five from Anthony Harris, to take the lead, but Stanback scored inside with five seconds left to send the teams to recess tied at 37.
 
Harris, a 6-5 junior guard, had 16 at the break.
 
A 6-0 run gave St. Thomas an early lead in the first half before the Bears replied with eight unanswered, and a Stanback free throw with 10:11 left tied the game again at 52.
 
The Bobcats then scored nine unanswered to pull away. Taylor had six of them, including the jumper with 6:37 left gave them a 63-54 lead.
 
Trailing 67-58, the Bears got consecutive baskets from Stanback, Bunch and Dillon, whose putback with 2:34 left pulled the Bears back to within three at 67-64.
 
Dillon paced the Bears with 21 points, hitting all eight of his free throws. He also had five rebounds.
 
Stanback followed with 18, while Bunch had 13 points and a team-high six rebounds.
 
Harris led St. Thomas with 24 points. Taylor added 16 while Warren had 14, and both grabbed eight rebounds. Matthews followed with 13.