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No. 10 Fort Lewis College ready for special weekend hosting Western State and CSU-Pueblo

One at a time for No. 10 FLC men’s basketball
Cade Kloster is one of many fifth-year seniors to come through the Fort Lewis College men’s basketball program, and he will look to build on the team’s conference lead with two big home games this weekend.

When the No. 10 Fort Lewis College men’s basketball team takes the floor Friday, it will already have been a special week for the Skyhawks.

After a huge weekend of games in South Dakota, Fort Lewis’ Joshua Blaylock was honored by the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference as the Offensive Player of the Week. The next day, the Skyhawks cracked the NABC Division II top 10 for the first time since the 2004-2005 season, and Friday they’ll be renaming the Whalen Gymnasium court after former FLC head coach Bob Hofman before tipping off against Western State.

“It’s going to be a special weekend, and I just hope our play is special, too,” Fort Lewis head coach Bob Pietrack said in a phone interview with The Durango Herald. “I’m really happy for coach and his family.”

Nearly every weekend has been special for the Skyhawks this season, and they refuse to let up.

After sneaking out of a tough road trip to South Dakota with two wins, Fort Lewis (19-3, 14-3 RMAC) has its best record in school history heading into this weekend against Western State and Colorado State University-Pueblo.

Blaylock’s 37 points led the Skyhawks to a 84-73 overtime win at South Dakota Mines. The junior followed up with 22 points in Saturday’s 80-73 win at Black Hills State. He played 83 of the weekend’s 85 minutes despite going to the emergency room between games because of dehydration.

The two out wins also moved the Skyhawks from No. 15 to 10 in the Division II rankings.

“Hey, we’re flattered by it,” Pietrack said of the ranking. “We also understand that it doesn’t mean a whole lot. We’ve just been focusing on the next game all season, and we’ll continue to do that.”

The next game for Pietrack’s team is a 7:30 p.m. Friday tip against Western State (4-19, 3-14 RMAC), and the Skyhawks are looking to extend their winning streak to eight.

The teams met Dec. 19 in Gunnison with Fort Lewis pulling away late to win 85-75. Five Skyhawks finished in double figures with Blaylock’s 21 points leading the way. Cade Kloster and Will Morse each had 16 points, while Kody Salcido and Rasmus Bach finished with 12.

Bach was fantastic last weekend in South Dakota with double-doubles in both games.

Western State’s Danny Hopkins had 20 points in the first meeting and leads the team in scoring at 13.7 points per game. Mountaineers’ point guard Will Duggan is fifth in the RMAC in assists with 3.7 per game.

The backcourt will also be the focus of the FLC defense in Saturday’s game against CSU-Pueblo (14-9, 10-7 RMAC) as ThunderWolves guard Chris Golden is one of the premier guards in the conference.

Golden leads the RMAC’s top offense with 16.5 points per game. Blaylock locked him down in the first matchup, outscoring the Weber State transfer 20-3 in a 87-76 Skyhawks win.

They’ll need a similar performance, as CSU-Pueblo had an impressive homestand last weekend with quality wins against RMAC contenders UC-Colorado Springs and Metro State.

CSU-Pueblo also boasts a couple big threats down low in Odessa Lear and Nelson Kahler. Lear is seventh in the RMAC with 7.1 rebounds a game, and Kahler blocks more shots than anyone with 2.2 per game.

Both games are scheduled to tip at 7:30 p.m. Coach Hofman will be honored before Friday’s game.

jfries@durangoherald.com



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