Colorado Christian went on a 20-6 run during 5 minutes, 3 seconds of the game’s final 5:46, and the Fort Lewis College postseason hopes sunk Saturday in Lakewood.
The Colorado Christian Cougars (5-14, 3-10 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) rode a 10-of-20 night shooting from 3-point range to a 89-77 home win against the visiting Skyhawks (9-10, 4-9 RMAC). Five different Cougars connected on a 3-pointer in the game. In contrast, FLC made only 3-of-17 from 3.
“It was a tough environment tonight on the back end, and they made a ton of shots,” FLC head coach Bob Pietrack said. “Credit them. They ran some tough action, and we made some defensive breakdowns on the way we were playing it, which shouldn’t happen the last five minutes of the game, but it did.”
FLC chased the Cougars all night. Each time the Skyhawks would tie the game or take a rare lead, the Cougars would answer with a little run that included a big 3. The Skyhawks fought to take the lead at 67-65 with 6:11 to play, but Jeremiah Hanson scored 10 consecutive points for the Cougars with two layups and two 3s to give the Cougars a 79-71 lead with 2:19 to play. FLC went ice cold and missed three consecutive shots and a pair of free throws that helped the Cougars go up 83-71 and put the game away.
Marquel Beasley had a big game for FLC with 23 points and five rebounds, while Otas Iyekekpolor had 19 points and six rebounds. For Beasley, it was a bit of redemption from a night earlier when he fouled out with more than eight minutes to play at Regis with only two points.
“Marquel is a special player and was really good tonight,” Pietrack said. “I’m sorry we couldn’t play better as a team around him. It’s a team game, and we just gotta get better. We’ve been in every game this year except one and haven’t found a way to close many out. It’s frustrating for everybody. We will keep playing our hardest. That’s all we can do.”
Scoring inside wasn’t a problem for the Skyhawks, but stopping the Colorado Christian jump shot was. Hanson finished with 23 points and seven rebounds, while Stefan Hackethal added 17 points. Both of them were 3-of-6 from 3. Jake Hornick added 16 points on 4-of-6 shooting, including 2-of-3 from 3. The Cougars shot 54.1 percent from the floor to FLC’s 46.6 percent.
Colorado Christian also made 13-of-14 free throws to 20-of-28 for Fort Lewis.
The Skyhawks have nine games to play with a road trip next weekend to Utah to face Dixie State on Friday and Westminster College on Saturday. FLC then will return home Feb. 8 against the same Colorado Christian team with five of its final seven games at home.
“We’re in the positing we’re in, and there’s nothing to say about it,” Pietrack said. “We will continue to represent our institution the best we can. The games won’t get any easier next week.”
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
