There was no way to sugarcoat Friday night’s loss for the Fort Lewis College men’s basketball team.
“We ran into a tidal wave tonight,” FLC fourth-year head coach Bob Pietrack said after his team’s 104-69 loss at New Mexico Highlands.
It was the worst Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference loss for FLC (4-3, 0-2 RMAC) in Pietrack’s tenure as head coach. Fort Lewis had a 7-6 lead with star senior forward Marquel Beasley headed to the free-throw line to try to complete a three-point play after the game’s first media timeout. Beasley missed the free throw, and the Cowboys went on a 25-3 run to claim a 31-10 lead in a flash. That run was helped by nine turnovers from the Skyhawks that led to 14 points for the Cowboys.
“We just never really rebounded.” Pietrack said of the run. “It doesn’t happen very often to us, but it was a knockout and we couldn’t ever get back in the game.”
New Mexico Highlands head coach Craig Snow sensed FLC’s trouble without injured point guard A.J. Sparks, while starting point guard Cesar Molina was less than 100 percent with a knee injury suffered in a 68-60 overtime loss last week at Adams State. FLC junior forward Riley Farris also continued to play limited minutes through a left shoulder injury.
Snow’s team ran a full-court press defense that befuddled the Skyhawks, who were repeatedly stripped of the ball from behind to lead to easy Cowboys points.
“We worked on it all week, but we couldn’t simulate their speed and intensity,” Pietrack said.
New Mexico Highlands (6-1, 2-0 RMAC) built a 55-22 halftime lead, while FLC searched for answers for poor shooting and turnovers. It wouldn’t find any in the second half. FLC finished shooting 21-of-58 for 36.2 percent. The team also turned the ball over 23 times that led to 24 Cowboy points.
“Credit them, they made a plethora of shots against us,” Pietrack said.
FLC also couldn’t defend the Cowboys at the 3-point line, as Highlands made 19-of-33 for an astounding 57.6 percent. FLC made 8-of-23 from 3-point land. The Cowboys also went 23-of-25 at the foul line compared to 19-of-24 for the Skyhawks.
Gerad Davis led the Cowboys with 25 points, four rebounds and three assists. Raquan Mitchell added 18 points, five assists and four rebounds, while Jordan Jones was big with 15 points and five rebounds. DJ Bustos added 14 points, and Adrian LaFleur scored 11.
FLC was led by Beasley’s 17 points and five rebounds. Alex Semadeni added 10 points and four rebounds as the only other FLC player in double-digit scoring. Kireed Johnson had his best game in an FLC uniform with nine points on 3-of-5 3-point shooting.
Farris was held to eight points before he went out again in the second half. Otas Iyekekpolor led FLC in rebounding with eight to go with four points.
The Skyhawks have won two of the last three regular season RMAC championships and have played in the last three conference tournament championship games. If the Skyhawks are going to make this year’s conference tournament, they will need to find an answer quickly, starting with a 7:30 p.m. Saturday game at CSU-Pueblo.
“In this league, win or lose on a Friday night, you have to get ready for that next game,” Pietrack said. “We will stick together. We’re a very united team, the players and coaches, and we will keep getting better. We have great people. Sometimes, this is the way life goes.”
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
