Brandon Wilson was a statistical monster, the Skyhawks spread the ball around the floor for balanced shot distribution, and the No. 21 Fort Lewis College men’s basketball team roared past the Colorado Christian University Cougars for an 88-62 home win Saturday at Whalen Gymnasium.
Wilson, FLC’s senior center, scored 16 points, grabbed 15 rebounds, dished out five assists, blocked three shots and recorded two steals Saturday. He didn’t turn the ball over once, and he did it all in only 24 minutes of action.
“(Colorado Christian’s) bigs like to play on the perimeter a lot,” Wilson said. “It was easy for me to get things going inside because they’re not used to being in there guarding on the post. We did a good job forcing tough shots, and that made for easy rebounds for me.”
FLC head coach Bob Pietrack was thrilled with the play of all five seniors on the team, especially Wilson.
“The 16 and 15, five assists, no turnovers and three blocks, that’s an unbelievably good stat line,” Pietrack said, “When you start thinking about college basketball on our level, it’s about seniors when the calendar turns to February. That’s what you expect from your seniors. Brandon, that’s going to become the norm.”
Wilson’s stat line was symbolic of the well-played team game from the Skyhawks. FLC (17-3, 13-2 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) totaled 20 assists as a team to only nine turnovers. The Skyhawks shot 55.2 percent from the field, and that hot performance came only one game after the team shot 62 percent in a 27-point win at Chadron State.
“What’s scary is I don’t think we’ve hit our peak offensively,” said FLC senior forward Rasmus Bach, who scored 12 points on 4-of-7 shooting Saturday. “We’re a team of scorers with no true point guard. Today, once we move it, we’re gonna score. It’s just getting more comfortable doing that.”
The only FLC player to attempt double-digit shots was senior guard DJ Miles, who finished with a co-team-high 16 points on 5-of-11 shooting. Wilson went 6-of-9.
“As a team, we talked about getting stops, holding them,” Miles said. “Get more stops, play together, find a flow. A lot of my shots just came within the offense.”
Everyone played within the offense Saturday. Marquel Beasley finished with 15 points on a perfect 6-of-6 shooting performance. Alex Semadeni added 12 points off the bench on 6-of-6 shooting. Semadeni brought energy late in the second half and scored 10 points in the opening 20 minutes. He also worked beautifully with Wilson, his roommate, as Wilson found him with crisp passes when Semadeni crashed to the rim.
“I think B-Willy and I have a good natural chemistry,” Semadeni said. “We get him the ball, and he’s really good at finding people in general, not just me. I feel like I’m a pretty good cutter, and he’s always looking to pass. It’s important to get him the ball because he makes plays happen.”
Colorado Christian (3-17, 2-12 RMAC) made six 3-pointers in the first half but was held to 8-of-22 shooting from 3 in the game. As a team, the Cougars shot only 37.5 percent from the field.
“They made a couple early,” Pietrack said. “Then there was a stretch in that first half with (Semadeni, Kane Martinez, Wilson, Bach) where we got a really good gap going and took their legs from there with our subbing with so many guys being able to contribute.”
Marcus Fager came off the bench to score a game-high 20 points for the Cougars. He also led the team with nine rebounds. Bayfield alum Preston Hardy started the game as a forward. He scored five points and grabbed one rebound. He shot 2-of-3 from the field, including 1-of-2 from 3. He has now made three 3-pointers this season.
FLC, after playing only one game this week, is as fresh as it has been since coming back from winter break. The team will now prepare for the final seven games of the regular season, beginning with two more home games next weekend against New Mexico Highlands on Friday and CSU-Pueblo on Saturday.
The Skyhawks have a one game lead on Westminster for first place in the conference. Though Westminster is still ineligible for postseason play in its final year of a transition period from NAIA to NCAA Division II, the Griffins can still win the regular-season conference championship. FLC and Westminster will play in Durango in the regular-season finale Feb. 24.
Westminster (16-3, 12-3 RMAC) fell behind FLC with a 67-61 home loss Saturday to University of Colorado at Colorado Springs (10-11, 7-8 RMAC), which also beat Metro State University-Denver (11-10, 10-5 RMAC) earlier in the week.
Colorado Mines (15-5, 9-5 RMAC) also fell three games behind Fort Lewis with a 60-54 loss Saturday at Adams State on “Black Out” night for the Grizzlies (11-10, 9-6 RMAC). Metro State is third in the conference. Regis also stands at 15-5 overall and 9-5 in RMAC play, giving the conference three teams with five losses.
“We got the theme that every game is a championship game,” Bach said. “In the RMAC past, the winner has either had two or three losses. We have two now, and we can’t afford any mistakes. Every game is a championship game from here on out.”
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
