MONTGOMERY, W. Va. – The No. 1-seed Cal State San Marcos men's basketball team took home its second consecutive Associations of Independent Institutions (A.I.I.) Conference title with an 87-83 win over No. 2-seed and host West Virginia Tech on Saturday afternoon at Neal Baisi Athletic Complex.

CSUSM receives the A.I.I.'s automatic bid to the NAIA Division I Men's Basketball National Championship in Kansas City, Mo. It will be the Cougars' third consecutive appearance.

The Cougars will enter the NAIA postseason at 28-3 overall, while Tech's season likely ends at 23-9.

The Cougars were led by senior point guard Blake Nash, who was named the A.I.I. Tournament's Most Outstanding Player after a 34-point performance in the title game. Akachi Okugo and Julian Camper joined Nash on the all-tournament team.

Taran Brown pitched in with a double-double of 11 points and 10 rebounds, while Dayton Boddie added 15 points on 5-of-7 shooting.

Tech led nearly the entire first half, but the Cougars went on a 10-0 run over the final 1:59 of the frame to take an eight-point edge, 48-40, into the break.

The Golden Bears made their run midway into the second frame and grabbed a 68-67 lead with 9:05 to play.

However, the Boddie and Brown hit back-to-back 3-pointers and CSUSM went up by six at the 5:18 mark.

Tech pulled back within two and had an opportunity to tie the game, but Brown was fouled on a 3-point attempt and promptly sunk all his free throws.

Boddie added a jumper to push the lead to seven, and the Cougars were able to play the free throw game the rest of the way.

A final 3-pointer from Eddie Gordon made it 85-83 with four seconds remaining, but Nash salted the victory with two from the charity stripe.

CSUSM will learn its first round opponent on March 11 at 6 p.m.