The red-hot shooting of the Fort Lewis College women’s basketball team carried over into the men’s game Monday.
FLC backed up the women’s 59.1 percent shooting performance with a dazzling 60.7 percent performance of its own, and that included a season-best showing from behind the 3-point line at 13-of-24. Fresh off a holiday break, the Skyhawks erased the sting of a pair of overtime losses at home before the hiatus with a 100-72 win against NAIA foe Northern New Mexico on Monday inside Whalen Gymnasium in Durango. It was the second lopsided home win of the year for FLC against the visiting Eagles.
Marquel Beasley answered head coach Bob Pietrack’s call for an increased focus on rebounding to start the second half of the season. He had a double-double of 19 points and 10 rebounds and helped lead the team to a 42-22 advantage in rebounding and 40-10 edge in points scored in the paint.
FLC’s 3-point shooting was led by Keven Biggs, who scored 17 points in 17 minutes off the bench. He made 5-of-7 shots from long range.
“There were a couple of aspects we wanted to focus on out of break,” Pietrack said. “We gotta make some shots, first, and we did that today. We were able to make some 3s, got a rhythm shots. Collectively, we had not rebounded the ball very well the last four or five games. We did a better job of that today.”
Point guard A.J. Sparks got the game going with a mid-range jumper before Kireed Johnson added the team’s first 3. A long-range 3 from Sparks moments later helped set the tone. Sparks finished with 11 points, five assists and two steals.
“A.J. is finally just getting healthy, and he’s been a shell of what he can be and the player we recruited,” Pietrack said. “You see what a difference he makes to our team. He’s a really good passer — passes it on people’s hands. We played a little smaller to help ball movement, and that seemed to work tonight.”
Ignacio’s own Wyatt Hayes came off the bench one game after he earned his first career start. The redshirt sophomore had a career-high eight points on 2-of-2 shooting from 3 and added a pair of free throws. He also had three rebounds and two assists. Hayes was one of three FLC players with eight points along with Alex Semadeni and Otas Iyekekpolor. Semadeni added five assists.
“Wyatt is a good basketball player, and he’s growing up in the program,” Pietrack said. “He’s put on good weight, and he’s been a basketball player his whole life. He needed an opportunity, and some things have broke his way this year, and he’s making the most of his opportunity. The team is rooting for him to do well, which is encouraging to see, and Wyatt is feeling that and getting more comfortable. When you start to play well, your natural instincts take over.”
Will Wittman started and gave FLC nine points with seven in the first half. He also had seven rebounds. In all, 11 players scored for FLC, as the bench compiled 48 points.
Naquwan Solomon led the Eagles (7-14) with 17 points. Last time Northern New Mexico visited Durango, he scored 25 points.
Next up, FLC will hit the road for a lengthy trip Friday to Metro State University-Denver before the journey to Nebraska’s Chadron State College. At 6-5 overall and only 1-4 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, FLC is hungry to get back to the winning ways that led the team to the last three RMAC tournament championship games and a pair of RMAC regular-season titles in that span.
“We understand this road trip coming up is really big and comes against big, strong teams,” Pietrack said. “We have to play really well against two really good teams.
“Hustle is contagious; making shots is contagious; effort is contagious. We’re really preaching that as we move forward excited for the second semester and the chunk of the season. Tonight was a good moment for us, and we are looking to create as many good moments as we can.”
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
