PUEBLO, Colo. – With eight seconds left here Saturday evening, the Colorado State University Pueblo men's basketball team appeared headed to an impressive come-from-behind victory over Chadron State, but an offensive foul called an inbounds play with the Pack leading 75-73 helped CSC tie the game to force overtime and then ultimately prevail 89-85 in a Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference match-up at Massari Arena.
 
The loss, which was the fifth in its last six games for the ThunderWolves, dropped CSU Pueblo's record to 11-13 overall and 7-11 in the RMAC, while Chadron State won its eighth straight game to improve to 16-8 overall and 13-5 in the league. With the loss, the Pack fell into a five-way tie for eighth place in the league standings with two weeks remaining in the regular season.
 
After leading by as much as nine points at 63-54 with about seven-plus minutes left in the game, the Pack watched the Eagles score 19 of the next 31 points to pull within 75-73 with 33 seconds left in regulation following a basket by Bryce Latimer. On CSU Pueblo's next possession, the Pack missed a shot, but got an offensive rebound and was fouled with eight seconds left, but CSC was not yet in the bonus so the Pack were forced to inbound the ball.
 
On the inbound play, sophomore guard Lian Ramiro (Aurora, Colo./Grandview) was called for an offensive foul as he pushed off from his defender. Thanks to the foul, CSC got the ball back and put the ball in Latimer's hands and he drove to basket and made a driving lay-up with about 1.4 seconds left to tie the game at 75. Ramiro's desperation shot from near half court missed to send the game into overtime.
 
In overtime, the Eagles outscored the Pack, 14-10 as Latimer and Marcus Jefferson combined for 12 of the 14 points to pull out the victory.
 
CSC scored the first four points in overtime, before the Pack rallied to score six straight points, including capping the run with a 3-pointer from junior guard Makiah Morris (San Diego, Calif./San Diego City College) to take an 81-79 lead with 2:06 left in overtime.
 
Latimer would score on driving lay-up with 1:50 left to tie the game at 81 and after senior forward Elijah Moleon (Killeen, Texas/Angelo State) scored on a dunk to give the Pack an 83-81 lead, Latimer would come right back and score on a lay-up with 1:10 left to retie the game at 83.
 
After Morris misfired on a pull-up jumper, Jefferson made a lay-up with 19 seconds left to give CSC an 85-83 lead and Jefferson would then add two free throws about 11 seconds later to take an 87-83 lead. On the ensuing CSU Pueblo possession, sophomore forward Isaiah Thompson (Colorado Springs, Colo./Fountain-Fort Carson) made a fast break dunk with two seconds left to pull the Pack within 87-85. Jefferson would cap the win by making two more free throws with 1.1 seconds left.
 
Ramiro paced the Pack offensively with 24 points, including scoring 17 of those points in the first half to become the 27th member of CSU Pueblo's 1,000-Point Club. Ramiro entered the game needing 15 points to join the 1,000-Point Club and joined the 1,000-Point Club on a trey with 7:40 left in the opening half.
 
In addition to Ramiro, Thompson posted his fourth consecutive double-double and ninth doiuble-double of the season as he had 18 points and 13 rebounds, while senior forward Meekness Payne (Phoenix, Ariz./University of New Hampshire) added 14 points and Moleon tallied 10 points and eight rebounds.   
 
Latimer paced CSC with a game high 32 points, including scoring 20 of those points in the second half and overtime. In addition to Latimer, Isaiah Wyatt added 19 points and Jefferson finished with 16 points, including a 5-for-6 effort at the free throw line.
 
The Pack jumped out to an 8-2 lead just four minutes into the game and led 12-9 when CSC used a 7-2 run to take a 16-14 lead with 11:14 left in the first half.
 
CSU Pueblo, though, responded with a 12-7 run keyed by three consecutive treys from Ramiro to take a 28-21 lead with 7:40 left in the half. Once again, the Eagles answered back as they closed the first half on a 21-7 run to take a 42-35 lead at the half. Latimer scored the final five points of the first half for the Eagles.
 
The Pack would open the second half on a 17-5 run to push out to a 52-47 lead following a basket by sophomore guard Noble Robinson (Lubbock, Texas/Clarendon College) with 12:37 left in regulation.
 
CSC would score five of the next seven points to pull within 54-52 with 10:43 remaining, but the Pack would respond with a 9-2 run that began with a trey from Payne and was capped by a basket from Robinson to push out to a 63-54 lead with 7:35 left in regulation. From that point, CSC would mount its rally to force overtime.
 
For the game, CSU Pueblo shot 52 percent from the field and 39 percent from the 3-point line, while CSC shot 49 percent from the field and 44 percent from the 3-point line. The two teams combined to make 14 treys in the game that featured nine lead changes and seven ties.
 
The Eagles held a 39-35 edge on the boards, including collecting 14 offensive boards that led to a 19-5 advantage in second chance points.
 
The Pack had 11 turnovers and 17 assists as Ramiro had five, while Thompson and Morris each had four assists. The Eagles committed seven turnovers and had eight assists.
 
CSU Pueblo also blocked four shots with three of those four blocks coming from Moleon.
 
The teams also combined to shoot 46 free throws in the game as CSC was 18-for-29 from the line, while the Pack was 12-for-17 from the line.
 
CSU Pueblo will look to rebound next weekend (Feb. 17-18) as they travel to play games on Friday, Feb. 17 at Westminster and then play on Saturday, Feb. 18 at Colorado Mesa. The Westminster game will tip-off at 7 p.m., while the Mesa game is scheduled for a 7:30 tip in Grand Junction, Colo.