Trailing 13-12 with 12.5 seconds remaining, the San Diego Seals threw just two passes before a bad pass ended any chance of pulling off another come-from-behind victory against the two-time defending NLL champion Buffalo Bandits.

It was a very similar circumstance that they won a week prior in Buffalo where they stunned the Bandits, 14-13, in overtime, and ended a 13-game home win streak in ‘Banditland.’

“It was crazy,” head coach Patrick Merrill said. “They’re such a strong team that we knew it was gonna come down to the wire either way.”

The game featured 10 lead changes while neither team had a lead bigger than two goals.

San Diego forward Tre Leclaire raced from the opposite end of the field with 12.5 seconds remaining on the clock and passed to forward Dylan Watson, who was acquired in January. Watson’s subsequent pass, intended for Kyle Jackson, went high and was collected by Buffalo defender Cam Wyers who held onto it for the last four seconds.

“Obviously we threw a different type of play against them this week. We just didn’t execute the way we wanted to,” Merrill said. “In the end, you just want to give yourself a chance.”

Leclaire recorded his first 4-goal game of the season and Watson scored his first hat trick with the Seals.

“I felt we played pretty good, start to finish. A couple of bad bounces going their way, sometimes a little unlucky but I thought our effort tonight was good,” Leclaire said.

Seals forward and captain Wesley Berg scored twice and assisted four in the Seals’ effort.

The Seals didn’t have transition player Zach Currier who had been one of the team’s top performers this season. It was a personal reason and not injury-related, according to a team spokesperson.

Forwards Kyle Jackson and Jake Govett, and defender Danny Logan each scored for the Seals.

Forward Rob Hellyer co-led the team with Berg with four assists.

Up next: After a bye week, the Seals host the Vancouver Warriors on Friday, March 7 at 7:30 p.m. at Pechanga Arena.