With a minute left in the game, Cincinnati got the ball with a one-point lead. To that point, a one-point lead hadn’t meant much in a game that featured 12 lead changes. NBA prospect Troy Caupain, guarded by Ivy League transfer Alex Mitola, drove just outside the lane and released just a step off the baseline. His shot would have missed, just a little too strong off the glass, but forward Octavius Ellis was there to put it back into the net.

There were no more lead changes, as Ellis put away the game and dealt GW its first loss, 61-56, in the Barclays Center Classic Championship game Saturday when the Colonials could never get going inside.

“The things that usually happen, we get to the line, manufacture some points that way, we couldn’t do it,” head coach Mike Lonergan said. “And they did a good job not allowing us to score inside and Tyler [Cavanaugh] was really pressing on offense, struggling to finish plays. And give them credit, the ball bounced their way.”

The Colonials got most of their points via the three-ball, shooting 11-for-22 from beyond the arc in the game. Patricio Garino led the team with 15 points, followed by Cavanaugh with 13 and Joe McDonald with 11. Garino and McDonald combined for a 6-for-9 mark on three-pointers, but the whole team made just 10 two-point buckets and forward Kevin Larsen was 0-for-4.

Cincinnati played in defensive formations that McDonald called “switching man” and Lonergan called “matchup whatever-it-was.”

They showed a 1-3-1 at one point in the first half, though they quickly switched back to a 2-3 zone, burned by the three-point shooting that gave the Colonials a three-point lead at halftime. They scored 24 of their 30 points in the first from beyond the arc on 8-of-11 shooting, including 3-of-4 from McDonald who had all of his points in the first half.

But the Bearcats were outplaying the Colonials in the paint, outscoring them 12-6 there and outrebounding them 19-14 and 4-1 off the offensive glass.

“We made a lot of threes in the first half which kept us in the game but I didn’t think we played real well except for our outside shooting,” Lonergan said. “Our bigs really struggled.”

That continued in the second half, while the Colonials cooled from distance. Cincinnati ended the game outscoring GW 24-16 in the paint, 12-8 on second chance points and outrebounding the Colonials 38-31. Caupain led all scorers with 16 points and forward Gary Clark pulled down 11 rebounds.

GW was in it until the very end, but while Cincinnati kept pace with open looks, the Colonials only seemed to score on ridiculous floaters or after a series of offensive rebounds as the Bearcats’ defense wore down the clock.

“When we finally get into a play you know there’s only 10 or something seconds left so that’s not our strength, we don’t want to have to do something late,” McDonald said. “So I think that was probably the biggest difference in the second half, they kind of ramped it up a little bit.”

Usually on those late possessions, GW has found success by getting to the free throw line if they can’t find a good look from the field. But Saturday the Colonials took just four shots from the charity stripe,

for three points. The Bearcats were 10-12.

Absent any penetration or effective strength down-low, there wasn’t enough going offensively to stop the Bearcats, who GW still held to more than 20-points off their season average.

Cavanaugh and Garino were named to the All-Tournament Team along with Caupain, and Ellis was named Most Valuable Player.

The Colonials must head home as runners-up, but have another big game to prepare for in a contest with Seton Hall on Wednesday, Dec. 2 in the Smith Center at 7 p.m.