DENVER, Colo. – Colorado State University Pueblo men's basketball sealed its first trip to the postseason since 2017 here Saturday evening as the ThunderWolves outscored Regis 8-3 over the final 3:05 of the game to seal its 77-75 come-from-behind victory over the Rangers in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference action at the Regis Field House. Saturday's game was the final one of the regular season for both schools.

With the victory, the Pack improves to 14-14 overall and finishes 10-12 in the league and earned the No. 7 seed in the 2024 RMAC Tournament where they will face No. 2 ranked and No. 2 seeded Fort Lewis in a 6 p.m. quarterfinal game in Durango, Colo., on Tuesday, March 5. Fort Lewis earned the No. 2 seed in the tournament following its 70-65 road loss Saturday at Colorado School of Mines.

CSU Pueblo last played in the RMAC Tournament in 2017 as they fell 54-52 in a quarterfinal round game in Massari Arena against Colorado Christian. The Pack are making its 16th all-time RMAC Tournament appearance and is 7-15 all-time in the tournament and were the tournament runners-up in 1998 when they lost in the championship game to Nebraska-Kearney.

The Pack, who trailed by as much as 12 points with a little more than eight minutes left in the game, used six straight points from junior forward De'Shaun Cooper (Poway, Calif./Balboa School) and two free throws from senior guard Makiah Morris (San Diego, Calif./San Diego City College) with 59.4 seconds left to seal the victory.

Morris had a chance to give the Pack a four-point lead with 15 seconds left, but he missed two free throws and on the ensuing possession by the Rangers, Chase Mayo Harmon missed a shot with two seconds left that was rebounded by freshman guard/forward Corbin Garver (Colorado Springs, Colo./Air Academy) as the clock expired. Harmon's shot had it went in would've forced overtime. 

Senior guard Brevin Walter (Las Vegas, Nev./South Dakota Mines) paced the Pack with 18 points, including scoring 11 points in the second half. In addition to Walter, junior guard Armon Muldrew (Perris, Calif./San Bernardino Valley) added 16 points, while Morris finished with 15 points and seven rebounds. Cooper added 10 points, seven rebounds and recorded a big steal with 1:27 left that he took down court and finished with a break away dunk to tie the game at 75.

In the first half, the Pack used a 12-2 run over the span of nearly six minutes to turn a 12-10 lead into a 24-12 advantage following a lay-up by Cooper with 7:02 left. During that run, the Pack scored eight straight points. Following the Pack's run, Regis responded with a 25-9 run that began with a lay-up by Tarig Elsa and was capped by back-to-back treys from CJ Reed and Elsa to take a 37-33 lead with 1:53 left in the opening half. 

The Pack came back with back-to-back treys by Garver and Walter to take a 39-37 lead, before Eisa scored on a lay-up with 19 seconds left to help Regis tie the game at 39 at the intermission.

Regis opened the second half on a 14-4 run to take a 53-43 lead with 15:54 left in the game. The Rangers lead would eventually lead as much as 12 points at 59-47 following a trey Eisa with 11:40 remaining in the contest. The Pack would respond with a 20-6 run that was capped by a trey from freshman forward Ty Adam (Severance, Colo./Severance) with 6:05 left. Adam's trey gave the Pack a 67-65 lead.

The Rangers answered Adam's trey by scoring 10 of the next 14 points to push its lead to 75-71 with 2:42 left in the game, before the Pack closed the game on a 6-0 run to cap the scoring.

Tarig Eisa had a huge night offensively for Regis (15-13 overall, 12-10 RMAC) as he scored a game high 25 points, including going 5-for-9 from the 3-point line. Eddy Egun added 12 points in the loss.

For the game, the Pack shot 47 percent from the field and 39 percent from the 3-point line and were 12-for-16 (75 percent) from the free throw line. Regis finished the game shooting 49 percent from the field and 36 percent from the 3-point line. The Rangers were just 11-for-17 from the free throw line.

The Pack held a 36-32 edge on the boards and forced Regis into 15 turnovers that led to 21 points for the Pack. The Pack had 13 turnovers in the win. 

Here is the complete schedule for the 2024 RMAC Men's Basketball Tournament.

Tuesday, March 5 - Quarterfinals
Game 1: #8 seed Chadron State (12-16, 9-13 RMAC) at #1 seed Colorado Mesa (24-3, 21-1 RMAC), 7:30 p.m.
Game 2: #5 seed MSU Denver (19-9, 13-9 RMAC) at No. 4 seed Black Hills State (16-12, 14-8 RMAC), 7 p.m.
Game 3: #6 seed Regis (15-13, 12-10 RMAC) at No. 3 Mines (23-7, 17-5 RMAC), 7 p.m.
Game 4: #7 CSU Pueblo (14-14 overall, 10-12 RMAC) at No. 2 Fort Lewis (25-3, 20-2 RMAC), 6 p.m.

Friday, March 8 - Semifinals (@Highest Remaining Seeded Team host semifinals and finals)
Game 5 - Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2, TBD
Game 6 - Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 4, TBD

Saturday, March 9 - Finals
Game 7 - Game 5 Winner vs. Game 6 Winner, TBD