The No. 9 Fort Lewis College men’s basketball team continues to separate itself from the rest of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.
In Friday’s matchup against a New Mexico Highlands team the Skyhawks hunted down to claim first place earlier this season, Fort Lewis (22-3, 17-3 RMAC) proved why it has claimed RMAC supremacy and has held on ever since. The Skyhawks were sharp from the start and put up 53 first-half points en route to a 96-77 win against their Mountain Division foes.
Cade Kloster bounced back after a near disastrous injury in FLC’s last game to lead the Skyhawks with 18 points. Will Morse had 16 and Joshua Blaylock had 15 in the high-powered Skyhawks’ back court that controlled the offense and managed the game beautifully once again. FLC had just four turnovers Friday night against a quick and agile Cowboys defense.
The 10th consecutive win gave the Skyhawks at least a share of the regular season RMAC title and the top seed in the RMAC Shootout tournament. They’ll win the league outright with a win Saturday at Western New Mexico or next week against Adams State.
“As we have all season, we’re just taking this thing one game at a time,” Fort Lewis head coach Bob Pietrack said in a phone interview with The Durango Herald. “We obviously don’t want to share anything with anyone, so we’re looking for one more.”
Fort Lewis was locked in early, and the Cowboys looked shell-shocked.
The Skyhawks shot a scorching 55 percent from the field in the first half and made six 3-pointers to build a big lead. While the offense filled the net with ease, the high-effort Skyhawks’ defense did its job at the other end. The swarming defense forced the Cowboys into shooting just 34 percent in the opening half and the work at both ends led to a 53-35 halftime lead for Fort Lewis.
New Mexico Highlands (13-13, 12-8 RMAC) made a run to start the second half and cut the Fort Lewis lead to 11 with a 9-0 run, but the Skyhawks responded as they have all year by delivering a haymaker that ended the fight.
Kloster’s back-to-back 3-pointers along with long ones from Morse and Kofi Josephs pumped the lead back to 20. Coach Pietrack used a heavy rotation so the RMAC leaders could conserve some much-needed energy for Saturday. They didn’t miss a beat, as the instant energy of senior Kody Salcido contributed 15 points off a Fort Lewis bench that outscored the opponents 33-25.
“Our seniors are hungry, and it’s getting down to the wire for them so they’re extra hungry,” Pietrack said. “Hopefully after (Friday) they have some gas left in the tank and we can get this thing closed out at Western New Mexico, which is a very tough place to get a win.”
The Skyhawks will look to extend the streak to 11 and claim the RMAC title for themselves at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Western New Mexico.
jfries@durangoherald.com
