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CINCINNATI, Ohio – Eastern Kentucky had a two-point lead over Cincinnati with 4.6 seconds left in regulation, but the Bearcats sent the game to overtime with a last second shot and earned a 85-77 victory Saturday night at Fifth Third Arena.

Senior Mike Rose led the Colonels (7-4) with 25 points, including two clutch free throws that gave EKU a 73-71 lead with less than five seconds to play in regulation. Deonta Vaughn led Cincinnati (9-2) with 20 points and seven assists.

UC scored seven straight points to take a two-point lead with 1:29 left in the game. The lead was the first by Cincinnati since the 14:30 mark of the first half. Vaughn’s free throw put UC in front 71-69.

Rose tied the game with a driving lay-up with 58 seconds to play and then put Eastern in front, 73-71, with a pair of free throws with 4.6 seconds to go.

Cincinnati inbounded the ball after a timeout and went the length of the court. Vaughn threw the ball up to Yancy Gates for a dunk with 0.1 seconds showing on the clock.

The Bearcats scored the first four points of overtime on four free throw attempts and never trailed again. A three-pointer by Dion Dixon stretched the lead to seven, 82-75, with just under three minutes remaining in overtime

Jorge Camacho and Mike Lewis scored 12 and 11 points respectively off the bench. Lewis added eight assists. Papa Oppong grabbed a team-best eight rebounds to go along with six points.

Gates added 17 points for the Bearcats. Mike Williams recorded a double-double with 13 points and 16 rebounds.

A lay-up by Gates got Cincinnati on the board first, but Dayon Ellis answered for the Colonels at the other end with a three-pointer to give the visitors an early 3-2 lead. Rashad Bishop countered Ellis’ three with one of his own to put the Bearcats back in front. Following a basket and a free throw by Gates UC went on top 8-3 with 16:24 left in the first half.

Back-to-back three-pointers by Rose turned an 8-3 deficit into a 9-8 lead and began a 12-2 EKU run. Consecutive baskets by Oppong, sandwiched around a Cincinnati turnover, pushed Eastern in front 13-8. A lay-up by Josh Taylor and another trey by Rose capped the run, forced the Bearcats to burn a timeout and gave the Colonels an 18-10 lead with 11:55 to play before intermission.

Rose made his first four attempts from behind the three-point arc. As a team the Colonels made six of their first nine attempts from deep. The Bearcats connected on only three of their first 14 three-point tries.

A lay-up by Camacho pushed the Eastern Kentucky lead to double figures, 23-13. A pair of free throws by Rose made it a 12-point Colonel lead, 27-15, with 8:04 remaining in the opening stanza.

Almost a minute later, Justin Stommes nailed a three-pointer to give Eastern its largest lead, 30-15.

Cincinnati used a 12-4 run over the final four minutes of the first half to get back into the game. Eight straight points by the Bearcats, including five from Vaughn, cut the EKU lead to only two. Vaughn followed a lay-up with a three-pointer to make it a 34-32 game with 1:19 before the break. Vaughn missed on another trey that would have given UC the lead with 21 seconds to go.

Rose converted a Cincinnati turnover into a lay-up as time expired to send Eastern to the locker room with a 36-32 lead.

The Colonels shot 48.3 percent (14-of-29) in the first half, including 54.5 percent (6-for-11) from behind the arc. UC made 36.1 percent (13-of-36) of its first half shots and went 5-of-17 (29.4 percent) from deep. The Bearcats grabbed 14 rebounds off the offensive glass and finished the first half with a 23-15 lead on the boards.

Vaughn opened the second half with a three-pointer to bring Cincinnati to within one, 36-35. However, Stommes answered on the other end for Eastern with a three of his own to keep the Colonels in front.

A three-pointer by Lewis pushed the Colonels back in front by eight, 49-41, with 12:21 left in the game. Eastern Kentucky went on top by nine, 53-44, on a jumper by Stommes with 11:05 to play.

Cincinnati used an 11-2 run, which included an EKU scoring drought that lasted more than three minutes, to get back into the game. Gates began the run with a jumper and Bishop followed with a three-pointer to make it 53-49. The Bearcats capped the run with four straight free throws to close the gap to 55-53 with 7:29 left in the game.

Two free throws by UC’s Vaughn tied the score at 60 with 4:35 to play. EKU’s Josh Jones answered with a three-pointer at the other end to put the Colonels back on top. Eastern added two more three’s on its next two possessions. Lewis hit one with three minutes to play for a 66-62 lead. Taylor’s trey with 2:24 remaining put EKU in front by five, 69-64.

Cincinnati answered with its 7-0 run to take the lead with a minute and a half to play.

Eastern shot 43.5 percent (27-of-62) from the field for the game and made 47.8 percent (11-of-23) of its three-point attempts. The two teams combined for 22 three-pointers. The Bearcats shot 38.6 percent (27-of-70) for the game and 30.6 percent (11-of-36) from deep.

UC out-rebounded EKU 47-30 and finished with 25 offensive boards.

The Colonels will be back in action on Monday when they host Indiana University Northwest at McBrayer Arena. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. Admission is free with a donation of a toy to the Colonel Holiday Toy Drive.