SPOKANE - Not long after the University of Cincinnati Bearcats found out Sunday that they had been selected to play in the NCAA Tournament for the sixth straight year, UC coach Mick Cronin declared that it was time to wipe the slate clean."It's time for us to get lucky because we haven't had much," Cronin said. "Let's get all bad luck, unfairness and bad things out of the way. It's our time to be lucky."That turned out to be nothing more than wishful thinking. The crushing defeats - three of them in overtime - that have tested the Bearcats this season continued Friday night in the first round of the NCAA Tournament's West Region with the most crushing of them all.One week after officials in the American Athletic Conference tournament ruled that Connecticut guard Jalen Adams managed to shoot a 70-foot, game-tying shot in .8 of a second to send the game into a fourth overtime another clock decision went against the Bearcats.This time UC forward Octavius Ellis' dunk as time expired appeared to send the game into overtime but the officials ruled after watching the replay that the ball was still in Ellis' hands before with no time

left on the clock, even though it was clearly inside the cylinder of the basket.The ruling preserved a 78-76 victory for Saint Joseph's before 11,274 fans at Spokane Arena and left the Bearcats stunned as they sat in their locker room minutes after the game, some with their head buried in their hands in frustration."It's tough," said senior center Coreontae DeBerry, who scored a career-high 18 points in a reserve role. "It's real tough, losing a game like that. We went out there and gave what we could. We just came up short at the end. I feel like that last call at the end wasn't a good call. I feel like the basket was good."No. 8 seed St. Joe's (28-7) advanced to face No. 1 seed Oregon on Sunday in a second-round game. No. 9 seed UC finished 22-11. Six of those losses were by two points. After the UConn game, Cronin was adamant in his post-game press conference that Adams' shot shouldn't have counted. He was less emphatic after this one about whether Ellis had released the ball in time."

I can't tell if Octavius's hands were off the ball or not," Cronin said. juxtapoz hoodie"I haven't had time to look at it. chief keef clothing line for saleWhat I do know for a certainty is that (St. Joe's DeAndre') Bembry whacked him in the back of the head going up at .5 for a 1,000 percent certainty. lacoste live zip thru hoodieHis head snaps to the left. vokal hoodieWhen (the officials) watched the replay, I'm sure they saw what they missed, so at the worst we should have had two free throws to tie the game.  hoodie etymologyOnce again, unfortunate for our kids."riker hoodie

According to a statement from the NCAA that was issued to the media after the game, the officials "ruled the dunk shot made by Octavius Ellis was disallowed because the ball was on his fingertips when the clock hit 0.0."drunknmunky hoodieUC, which trailed by four with 2:43 left, took a 76-75 lead on a dunk by Jacob Evans with 16 seconds left. Isaiah Miles then buried a 3-pointer with nine seconds remaining to return the lead to the Hawks. The Bearcats pushed the ball down the floor. When Troy Caupain drove to the basket, he saw Ellis come open. Ellis accepted Caupain's pass and jammed it through the basket."When I drove and stopped, when I went up in the air, I saw his man step over to come block it," said Caupain, who was held to six points. "I just tried to squeeze the ball through. I thought if the ball was inside the cylinder it's in no matter what. The ball was inside the cylinder before the red light came on.

I think that's a bucket. But the outcome is the outcome. You can't do nothing about it now."St. Joe's coach Phil Martelli said he wished the game hadn't ended the way it did."I wish it had ended with Isaiah making the three and us getting a stop," he said. "But at least from what I could see it was the right call."The Bearcats fought gamely despite being shorthanded due to injuries. Sophomore forward Gary Clark, who sprained his left ankle last week, tried to play, but obviously was not himself. He scored only two points with two rebounds in 19 minutes. Quadri Moore, who scored six points in the first half, was helped off the floor late in the half with a twisted ankle and did not return. And Shaq Thomas never got off the bench because of a groin injury that has bothered him for several weeks."My guys have had a tough year," Cronin said. "They've had a lot of tough breaks all year. I can't say enough about my players. We don't ever play four guards and we were running around playing four guards.

Quadri was playing his best game of the year and blows his ankle. Gary Clark tried to play. He was completely ineffective, still very injured from tearing his ankle last week. Shaq Thomas, he's got a tear in his groin. He tried this week, couldn't do it. We're  playing a team that dominated the Atlantic 10 tournament last week, a team that shot the ball well, played well, and we still almost beat them with three guys hurt."The Bearcats were able to stay in the game because of a career-high 26 points from Evans, who also had nine rebounds. Farad Cobb added 12 points."We were shorthanded with Gary and Shaq, and Quad getting hurt during the game, so we needed some offense from somewhere," Evans said. "I just wanted to assert myself on the offensive end."UC overcame a 12-point lead and a 20-point first-half performance by St. Joe's Bembry, the Atlantic-10 Player of the Year. But for the second straight week, the Bearcats couldn't beat the clock."It's kind of been our fate," Clark said. "We're always on the opposite end of that last shot or that last play hasn't gone our way."