Skyhawk men's team crushes Grand Canyon 92-52 in tourney

by Aaron Unterreiner
Herald Sports Editor

Article Last Updated; Sunday, November 22, 2009 12:50AM

Photo by NICK MANNING/Herald

Fort Lewis’ Torrey Udall fights for a rebound against Grand Canyon’s Brandon Duliakis during Saturday night’s game at Whalen Gym. Udall had two points and two rebounds in the Skyhawks’ 92-52 victory.

Hofman

The guy obviously was upset.

He was so frustrated with his team's play that he said nary a word for the final 30 minutes of the game. Whenever a directive was shouted from the Grand Canyon bench, it came from an assistant coach.

Russ Pennell, the head coach at Grand Canyon, basically just sat back and watched his team lose by 40. After the game, Pennell immediately apologized to Fort Lewis College men's basketball coach Bob Hofman for the Antelopes' sloppy play. Then he proceeded to say sorry to each individual player in the customary postgame handshake.

FLC defeated Grand Canyon 92-52 on Saturday night in the final game of the George B. Boedecker Foundation Classic at Whalen Gymnasium.

"I think they were just a little bit disappointed when we made so many shots," Hofman said.

Grand Canyon led 4-2 and 6-4, then the rout was on.

Daniel Steffensen had everything to do with that, too.

He showed soft touch off the glass for 2.

He hit a deep 3 from the wing.

He worked the high-low to Kyle Behrens for 2.

Behrens picked up a steal in the defensive half, led the fast break, then assisted Matt Billups for 2.

Steffensen hit another 3 from the key, then he picked up a steal and led DeAndre Lansdowne down the floor for two more fast-break points.

"We shot the ball so well in the first half, and that really spurred our defense," Hofman said.

FLC shot 17-for-25 (68 percent) from the floor in the first half, 6-for-10 (60 percent) from 3 and 10-for-10 from the free throw line.

Steffensen hit a fadeaway 2 from the elbow in the final seconds of the half to give the Skyhawks a working 50-19 lead at halftime.

"I thought the key was the beginning of the second half," Hofman said. "We used the clock really well, got great looks and scored.

"Of course, we had a little lull there where we didn't play right, but when we were playing right, everyone was contributing, and that was encouraging."

Matt Morris scored eight of his 18 points in the first 3Â½ minutes of the second half, then the Skyhawks were lulled to sleep with a 12-0 gap that brought the Antelopes within 29.

The run hardly mattered.

FLC (2-0) added 15 more free throws in the second half and finished its second game of the season 30-for-53 (57 percent) from the floor.

Lansdowne matched Morris' 18 for the game high in points scored.

Behrens added 12, and Steffensen finished with the 10 he scored in the first half and added a game-high five assists as the only Skyhawks in double figures.

Eleven players scored, and 10 of the 13 Skyhawks that played had an assist.

"It was the perfect storm, really," Hofman said. "They're just coming off a long road trip ... Grand Canyon is a better basketball team than that."

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