PUEBLO, Colo. – Colorado State University Pueblo men's basketball held off a late game rally by Western Colorado here Saturday evening to grind out a 59-50 victory over the Mountaineers in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference action at Massari Arena.
 
With the victory, CSU Pueblo won its second straight game and improved its record to 9-8 overall and 5-6 in the league, while Western Colorado fell to 3-11 overall and 1-9 win. The win helped the Pack move into a tie for seventh place with South Dakota School of Mines in the league standings.
 
The ThunderWolves were held without a made field goal over the final 11 minutes and 49 seconds of the game and held off a Western Colorado rally by making 13 of 19 free throws over the final 11-plus minutes of the game. Western outscored the Pack, 22-13 during the final stretch of the game.
 
Sophomore guard Lian Ramiro (Aurora, Colo./Grandview) led the way offensively with 16 points and seven rebounds, while junior guard Makiah Morris (San Diego, Calif./San Diego City College) added 14 points and eight rebounds. Senior forward Elijah Moleon (Killeen, Texas/Angelo State) and sophomore guard Micah Lamberth (Colorado Springs, Colo./Classical Academy) each had seven points in the win.
 
The Pack, who led 36-21 at the half, opened the second half on 10-7 run to push out to a 46-28 lead following a lay-up by Lamberth with 11:49 left in the game. That lay-up Lamberth was the final field goal of the game for the ThunderWolves.
 
Lamberth's lay-up helped ignite a spark into the Mountaineers as Western used a 20-6 run to pull within 52-48 following a trey from Avery Rembao with 1:56 left in the game.
 
Following Rembao's trey, the Pack would make seven of its next eight free throws to push out to a 59-48 lead with 30 seconds remaining in the game. Western would cap the scoring on a lay-up by Andrew Reichart with 22 seconds remaining.
 
For the game, CSU Pueblo shot 32 percent from the field and 25 percent from the 3-point line, while Western shot 32 percent from the field and 29 percent from the 3-point line.
 
The Pack finished the game going 21-for-32 from the free throw line as they shot 65.6 percent at the line as the Mountaineers were whistled for 25 fouls, including 15 in the second half. Western was just 6-for-11 (54.5 percent) at the line.
 
CSU Pueblo scored the first four points and led 18-6 just a little over six minutes into the game, before Western used an 11-5 run to pull within 23-17 with 5:33 left in the opening half.
 
The Pack, though, would answer by scoring 13 of the next 15 points to take a 36-19 lead with 2:01 left in the half. The run began with a basket from Morris and was capped by a lay-up from Moleon. Mason Black would cap the first half scoring to give the Pack a 36-21 lead.
 
Rembao led the way offensively for the Mountaineers with 14 points and six assists, while Robel Desta and Kade Juelfs each had six points in the loss.
 
CSU Pueblo held a 43-39 edge on the boards as Moleon and Morris each had eight boards, while Ramiro had seven and senior forward Meekness Payne (Phoenix, Ariz./New Hampshire) had six boards and the Pack forced 15 turnovers that led to 14 points.
 
The ThunderWolves also held a 26-16 edge in points in the paint and blocked four shots, including three from Payne.
 
CSU Pueblo will remain at home this coming weekend (Jan. 20-21) as they host South Dakota School of Mines on Friday, Jan. 20 at 7:30 p.m., before welcoming third-ranked Black Hills State on Saturday, Jan. 21 for a 7:30 p.m. RMAC contest.