Everyone in RAC Arena knew what it meant when New Hampshire guard Mike Christensen’s half-court shot fell short, giving UMBC a 71-68 win in overtime on Saturday night.

The players, who hugged each other as confetti rained and the band blared the school’s fight song, knew.

The RAC Arena-record 3,712 fans, many of whom poured onto the court after the final buzzer, knew.

The Retrievers won their first America East regular season championship, guaranteeing them their first trip to a postseason tournament since becoming a Division I team in 1986.

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“It’s great man, it brings me to tears,” guard Ray Barbosa, who led the Retrievers with 21 points, said “We worked hard all year round. We lifted hard, we ran our sprints hard, we practiced hard, and we deserve this.”

Where UMBC will play in postseason is still yet to be determined. The Retrievers (20-7, 12-2 America East Conference) finish the regular season with two road games, at Maine (7-19, 3-10) on Thursday night at 7 and at Hartford (15-14, 9-5) on Sunday afternoon at 2.

Then, it’s off to the conference tournament, where UMBC will be the top seed and if it wins two games at Albany University’s SEFCU Arena the first week in March, it hosts the championship game, where the winner advances to the NCAA Tournament. The Retrievers are 12-1 at home this season.

If UMBC falters in the conference tournament, it is guaranteed a spot in the 32-team National Invitation Tournament, a second-tier, single-elimination event that chooses the best teams that failed to get in the NCAA Tournament.

“I want them to enjoy this moment, but they also must understand that we have two more games to go,” UMBC coach Randy Monroe said. “We’re going to be focused and prepared to play those two games.”

The win against New Hampshire (8-19, 5-10) was the eighth straight the Retrievers, their longest since an 11-game run during the 1998-99 season. Guard Brian Hodges, the team’s leading scorer (16.5 ppg) heading into Saturday’s game, returned to action after missing the previous five games with a high ankle sprain. The senior played 17 minutes, scoring just two points and missing all three of his shots from the field.

Point guard Jay Greene (9 ppg) scored 11 points and added nine assists, breaking the school’s single-season assist record with 186, as he played 45 minutes for the second straight game.

“I definitely feel it after the games, but I love to play,” Greene said. “I wouldn’t want to come out for a second in any game of this season.”

avitelli@baltimoreexaminer.com