No. 25 Transy (12-3, 3-1 HCAC) and No. 21 Bluffton (13-2, 3-1) battled evenly throughout the contest with first place in the early Heartland Conference race at stake. The Pioneers built a 12-point first half lead and had an 11-point margin with 10 minutes to play in the game only to see the Beavers battle back and miss a pair of three-point shots in the last seconds.
Bluffton saw its 11-game winning streak snapped while suffering its first loss in conference play.
Transy still led by 10, 64-54, with under five minutes remaining, but Bluffton went on an 11-1 run, capped by a pair of threes by Mike Anthony and Scott Bergman with 1:43 to go to make it 66-65.
Robert Pendleton scored a pair of free throws to make it 68-65, but Bergman, the HCAC's leading scorer at over 30 per game, converted two free throws to make it a one-point game with under a minute to go. Bergman, who scored 18 points, 10 in the first half, missed from the top of the key with seven seconds to go, setting up Searle's one and the bonus with six seconds left.
Bergman took the in-bounds pass and drove to the top of the key, but misfired as the horn sounded.
Matt Finke, who was honored prior to the game for reaching the 1,000-point scoring mark for his career last month, added 17 points and nine rebounds for the Pioneers. He also had five assists and three steals.
Pendleton finished with 12 points.
Transy shot 54 percent in the first half, including six of seven from behind the arc, and led by a point, 35-34, at intermission.
Bluffton held the Pioneers to 41 percent in the second half, but the home team stayed hot from long range, hitting seven of 14 to finish the game with 62 percent accuracy from three-point range. Bluffton hit 41.5 percent from the field and was six of 18 from the arc for 33 percent. Bluffton had a 27-9 edge in free throws, keeping them in the game.
Anthony and Bergman each had 18 points and Eric Sweet added 13. Anthony also led Bluffton with six rebounds.
The Pioneers travel to Hanover on Wednesday for a 7:30 p.m. HCAC contest. Transy will host Manchester on Saturday at 3 p.m.