Close, but no cigar. That mocking phrase seems to embody the Binghamton men’s basketball team’s success in its past two games.

Twelve lead changes and a hard-fought battle against University of New Hampshire may be promising going forward, but they still culminated in a disappointing overtime loss for BU (2-18, 1-4 America East). Unable to capitalize on numerous opportunities in the extra period, the Bearcats fell to UNH (9-9, 2-2 AE), 73-66, at the Events Center on Saturday afternoon.

Binghamton hit just 1 of 6 from the floor and missed six free throws in overtime, allowing the Wildcats to pull away for good behind their perfect 4-of-4 shooting from the field.

But the seven-point margin favoring UNH is deceiving. Binghamton led for a larger portion of the game and was potent behind its effective press. The Bearcats forced 22 Wildcat turnovers — on which they scored 23 points — and recorded 11 steals and four blocks.

For all that, the Bearcats were rather streaky offensively. There were periods through which no shot went wide and others through which no shot fell in. That ended up evening out to a 38.6 percent shooting clip, compared to UNH’s 52.1 percent clip. And with the Wildcats’ additional domination on the glass, Binghamton’s inconsistency proved crippling. UNH pulled down 45 boards in the game, including 38 defensive. Binghamton grabbed a total of just 27 boards.

In the first half, neither team was very dominant. The lead changed nine times in the opening frame and never swelled to larger than six.

Binghamton started out on the tail-end, with New Hampshire pulling out to an 8-2 lead as Binghamton shot 1 for 6 from the field. But the Bearcats responded quickly. Freshman forward Justin McFadden sparked a 7-0 run with a layup, and freshman center Bobby Ahearn followed up with two off a jumper. Sophomore guard Yosef Yacob capped it off with a three-point play to put the Bearcats atop, 9-8, with 13:24 remaining.

UNH took the lead again after senior guard Matt Miller – who leads the conference in 3-pointer field goal percentage with a 47.2 percent clip – proved a nuisance to Binghamton. Miller sunk back-to-back treys to give his team a narrow 17-16 lead, and a UNH jumper on the subsequent possession widened the advantage to 19-16.

Binghamton relied heavily on trips to the free-throw line to reinstate a lead and carry a one-point advantage, 29-28, into halftime. Nine of the team’s final 13 points came from the charity stripe.

Coming out of the locker rooms, Binghamton carried its momentum and hit 5 of 6 from the field. Led largely by freshman forward Romello Walker — who erupted for six early points to give BU its largest lead of the game, 37-30 — the Bearcats went on a 10-2 run before foul trouble granted the Wildcats some easy points.

Foul trouble ended up being a huge advantage for the Wildcats, as Binghamton was whistled for 14 in the half. Those extra scoring opportunities helped UNH chip away at BU’s lead until seven straight points put the Wildcats on top, 55-51, with under six to go.

Binghamton wouldn’t throw in the towel. Some rugged defending punctuated by a steal from Ahearn coupled with back-to-back 3-pointers from Beck and Walker gave Binghamton a 58-55 advantage with 2:40 to go.

But the Wildcats requited, knotting the score at 58 with 55 seconds left. Each team sunk an additional two free throws to preserve the tie at 60, and after a controversial ruling from the referees denied the Bearcats a potential game-changing trip to the line, the game went into overtime.

From there, it was all UNH. The Wildcats outscored BU, 13-6, in the final five minutes to come away with the road win.

UNH’s Leissner scored a game-high 17 points and Miller added 16 on 5-of-6 shooting from the field, including 3-of-4 from deep.

On BU’s end, Walker and McFadden led with 12 points and three steals apiece. Freshman forward Willie Rodriguez grabbed nine rebounds, which tied the game high, and added 11 points. Beck and Yacob rounded out the Bearcats’ double-digit scorers with 11 and 10 points, respectively.

Saturday’s heartbreaker came on the heels of a 73-58 loss to Albany. Binghamton scored 40 points in an effective second half, but that was ultimately insufficient to make up for the 18-point deficit at halftime. Beck led the way for BU in the second half, pouring in 17 points on 6-of-8 shooting from the field — 5-of-6 from beyond the arc — en route to his game-high 20 points. Ahearn followed up Beck with 12 points on 5-of-6 shooting from the field.

Next up for the Bearcats is a Monday matchup against Vermont. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. at Patrick Gymnasium in Burlington, Vermont.