The No. 15 Fort Lewis College men’s basketball team hasn’t needed a bailout all season. Friday, most of the team struggled, but two Fort Lewis players took matters into their own hands.
After 16 hours on a bus and four quarters of action, Joshua Blaylock and Rasmus Bach were just getting started. The two Skyhawks combined to score 15 of the Skyhawks’ 18 overtime points and 66 overall, as Fort Lewis won a nail-biter 84-73 in overtime against South Dakota School of Mines ((7-13, 5-10 RMAC). Blaylock led the Skyhawks with a season-high 37 points. Bach was a monster down low adding 29 points and 10 rebounds in the win. The 18-3 start is the best in Fort Lewis College history.
“I’ve told these guys time and again that the records don’t matter and we’re going to take everyone’s best punch,” head coach Bob Pietrack said in a phone interview with The Durango Herald. “Lucky for us we have an All-American talent in Josh and had a heck of a performance from Rasmus to get the job done.”
For awhile, it looked like the underdog Hardrockers were going to pull off the upset in front of the hometown crowd. They were up five inside of nine minutes to play and Fort Lewis looked frazzled, but the Skyhawks kept it together.
The teams exchanged the lead multiple times down the stretch and both had late chances to win in the waning seconds. Neither could convert and, by the end of regulation, they were knotted at 66.
Blaylock scored the first points of overtime on the first possession and a Will Morse 3-pointer followed to give the Skyhawks a two-possession lead. Bach and Blaylock were a combined 17-for-20 from the foul line and made most of them down the stretch to close the deal on a tough night for the RMAC leaders.
Fort Lewis (18-3, 13-3 RMAC) trailed by double digits halfway through the first half but closed out the half with a 19-6 run that gave them a narrow three-point advantage heading into halftime. Blaylock’s 14 first-half points kept Fort Lewis in the game while the rest of the team had trouble getting started.
They couldn’t keep the home team down, however, as a second half 8-0 run gave the Hardrockers the lead once again. Down five with 10 minutes left, Fort Lewis and Blaylock responded with six consecutive points to recapture the lead.
After neither team could take command down the stretch in regulation, Bach, Blaylock and the Skyhawks did so in the extra frame. They built a quick lead and locked down on defense as they have all year. Bach and Blaylock did the work at the line and used clutch shooting from long range to rack up another gritty RMAC road win for the conference leaders.
“We found ourselves in a dogfight and we were lucky to come out on top,” Pietrack said. “Every game in this conference is so intense, and the best part is that we have to turn around and do the same thing (Saturday).”
Fort Lewis will look to improve on its historic start at 6 p.m., Saturday at Black Hills State.
jfries@durangoherald.com
