Just four seconds away from a fourth straight win and taking over sole possession of second place in the Midwest Collegiate Conference, St. Ambrose was stunned by a buzzer-beating 3-pointer in a 74-72 overtime loss at AIB Wednesday night.

The Eagles went the length of the floor in those final seconds and Brandon Eley hit a pull-up three while surrounded by Bees to drop SAU to 14-11 overall and 5-3 in the MCC.

St. Ambrose now trails No. 11 Mount Mercy (20-3, 7-0 MCC) by 2.5 games and second-place AIB (16-7, 6-2 MCC) by a full game.

St. Ambrose twice led by three points in overtime, the last time coming after a Darian White 3-pointer broke a 69-69 tie with 29 seconds to go. The Bees forced a miss but the Eagles were able to grab two offensive rebounds before converting inside to pull to within 72-71 with 10 seconds left.

SAU's Nick Frazier was fouled but missed the front-end of a 1-and-1. AIB called timeout after the rebound setting up the game-winning three.

St. Ambrose had its chances to win the game in regulation. After leading by as many as 13 late in the first half, the Bees watched the Eagles storm in front by five points with six minutes remaining.

But John Kohnle buried three 3-pointers over a two-and-a-half-minute stretch to put the Bees back in front. His last three capped a 13-4 run that gave SAU a 61-57 edge with three minutes on the clock.

The Eagles came back with five straight points of their own to regain a 62-61 lead. A Sam Ainsworth free throw tied the score before AIB went back in front 64-62 with 1:07 left.

Frazier found Michael Knoll, who scored inside to again tie the score with 56 seconds remaining. SAU got its stop and had a chance to win but Ainsworth's leaner in the closing seconds of regulation bounced off the rim, sending the teams to overtime.

Ainsworth came off the bench to lead St. Ambrose with 15 points and eight rebounds. Frazier scored 12 points, leaving him 19 points shy of 2,000 for his career. Knoll netted 10.

The Bees will next host Ashford Sunday at 3 p.m. on Senior Day.