The Fort Lewis College men’s basketball team faced a hot-shooting New Mexico Highlands University on Friday and lost to the Cowboys, 97-83.
Highlands entered the game last in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference standings at 2-10 in the conference and 7-11 overall while FLC was sixth with a 7-4 RMAC mark and 11-6 overall. The Cowboys, however, led almost the entire game on Friday.
JacQuess Hobbs hit a 3-pointer, Riley Farris made a layup and Akuel Kot hit a jumper that gave FLC leads of 3-2, 5-4 and 7-6. Highlands’ Andre Adams, however, made the next basket and the Cowboys never trailed again. NMHU had leads of 19-9 and 32-18. The Skyhawks rallied and closed within four of Highlands, 37-33, but every time FLC got close, Highlands was able to pull away.
Farris led FLC with 26 points. Kot scored 13, Corey Seng added 11, Junior Garbrah scored 10 and Brenden Boatwright added nine.
NMHU had six players finish in double figures, led by Sammy Barnes-Thompkins with 19.
Highlands shot 58.3% from the field, compared with Fort Lewis at 44.3%.
Fort Lewis will look to rebound Saturday when the team hosts the University of Colorado Springs at 7 p.m.
