PUEBLO, Colo. – Western State Colorado University men's basketball made history Saturday night in the regular season finale. The Mountaineers defeated Colorado State University – Pueblo 91-89 to make the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament for the first time since the 2011-12 season.
 
It came down to the final game of the season. Both Western (13-15, 11-11 RMAC) and CSU-Pueblo (11-13, 9-12) needed a win to advance. It was only fitting the two teams would play each other in the final game of the regular season, and that game would come down to the final possession.
 
With eight seconds left to play, the Thunderwolves went to the free throw line to shoot two free throws, down one point, 89-88. Both free throws went astray and CSU-Pueblo was forced to foul.
 
Western's Quincy Harding made his way to the charity stripe with three seconds left and made both free throws.
 
The Thunderwolves inbounded the ball, went down the court and after a great defensive adjustment by the Mountaineers, the ball went out of bounds with 0.8 seconds on the clock. With one last desperate attempt, CSU-Pueblo threw a deep three-pointer towards the rim, but the ball sailed past the basket and the Mountaineers secured a 91-89 win.
 
For nearly the entirety of Saturday night's game, the Mountaineers led the Thunderwolves. However, with 2:26 left to play, CSU-Pueblo went ahead of Western 82-81 after completing a four-point play.
 
Western's Collin Smith responded 13 seconds later with deep three-pointer to retake control of the game, but was followed by a CSU-Pueblo layup, tying the game at 84 points with 1:51 remaining.
 
Harding gained separation for the Mountaineers, completing a three-point play of his own with 1:18 left.
 
The Thunderwolves had a chance to tie the game, but only made the front-end of two free throws.
 
On the following possession, Smith scored a layup and the Mountaineers were back ahead by three points, 89-86.
 
CSU-Pueblo made two free-throws on the following possession to make the score 89-88.
 
The win is Western's fourth consecutive victory and is the first time since 2012 the Mountaineers have won four games in-a-row.
 
As a team, the Mountaineers shot 61.3 percent (19-of-31) from the field. It's also the third straight game Western has shot over 50 percent from the field.
 
Ben Beauchamp led the Mountaineers in scoring with 31 points, making 6-of-8 from beyond the arc. For Beauchamp, Saturday marks the second straight game he scored 31 points, and the 11^th game this season he has scored 20 or more points.
 
Smith added 26 points for Western, while teammate Harding added another 17.
 
Western outrebounded CSU-Pueblo 34-26.
 
The Mountaineers' 13 overall wins and 11 conference victories are the most for the program since the 2011-12 season.
 
Western will travel to Fort Lewis College on Tuesday to face the Skyhawks in the opening round of the RMAC Tournament.