Every game night is a difficult one with the parity of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference’s men’s basketball schedule, but Fort Lewis College’s squad is gearing up for an important early season conference homestand this weekend.
The Skyhawks are coming off their first loss of the season, a 73-65 defeat in Alamosa to Adams State, and it won’t get any easier Friday when No. 15 Colorado Mines invades Whalen Gymnasium at 7:30 p.m. FLC also will host Colorado Christian at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.
“There aren’t any nights off in the RMAC, that’s for sure,” said Skyhawks head coach Bob Pietrack. “If it isn’t the best conference in Division II basketball, it’s up there among the toughest from top to bottom. Every team is dangerous and every team can beat anyone else on any given night.”
The Skyhawks’ 5-1 start is fifth best in school history, but the No. 15 Orediggers (6-1, 1-0 RMAC) are the defending co-RMAC champions, and they’ll bring the league’s best record to Durango.
Colorado Mines opened conference play with a 79-73 win against Colorado Christian. The lone blemish on the Orediggers’ schedule seven games into the season was a 86-74 loss to No. 14 University of California at San Diego.
Fort Lewis will have to be prepared to contain Orediggers’ RMAC Preseason Defensive Player of the Year Gokul Natesan.
Natesan is a force on both ends of the floor. At 6-foot-4, he smothers opposing guards on defense. On the offensive end, he leads the Orediggers in scoring and is fifth in the RMAC with 21 points per game. He is also fourth in the conference in made 3-pointers with 23, fourth in assists averaging 4.7 per game, and sits alone at the top of the RMAC in minutes played. He leads a backcourt that is tops in the RMAC in 3-point shooting percentage making 49 percent of Mines’ long-range attempts.
“They have weapons all over the floor,” Pietrack said. “They’re solid in all areas and they’re very well-coached. We’ll have to bring our best game to beat them.”
Fort Lewis (5-1, 0-1 RMAC) didn’t have its best game last time the team took the floor. The Skyhawks shot a disappointing 22 percent (6-for-27) from 3-point range in the loss to Adams State. They were also out-rebounded by the Grizzlies 47-35 and will need to improve on those numbers if they hope to beat the defending regular season conference co-champions.
One area the Skyhawks will have an advantage against the Orediggers is in scoring depth. FLC has four players averaging in double-figures led by Rasmus Bach’s 17.7. The starting back court of Joshua Blaylock (12.3) and Cade Kloster (14.3), combined with Will Morse’s 13.5 coming off the bench, keeps opposing defenses on their toes and unable to key in on one component of the Skyhawks’ versatile offense.
“We’ve really preached the importance of sharing the ball and we want a well-rounded offensive unit,” Pietrack said. “The stats are a reflection of us trying to make each other better ballplayers and that’s how we want to build this program.”
No matter what happens in Friday’s contest with the Orediggers, the Skyhawks will have to bounce back in a hurry for Saturday night’s matchup with Colorado Christian.
The Cougars (4-3, 0-1 RMAC) have a well-balanced offense similar to Fort Lewis’. They have three of the conference’s top-15 scorers and are led by guard Zach McLemore’s 20.4 points per game. Ty McGee and Wayne McCullough each average 15 points per game for an offense that ranks in the RMAC’s top five in most major categories. On defense, however, Colorado Christian sits near the bottom in field goal percentage against and points given up per game.
“We’re not going to beat anybody shooting the way we did against Adams State,” Pietrack said. “We’re going to have to be more crisp on the offensive end, be more aggressive on the boards and collectively play better in all phases to compete in our conference. Every team knows that this league is an absolute grind.”
jfries@durangoherald.com
