Similar to the hole Fort Lewis College found itself in Friday night at No. 1 Metro State, the Skyhawks flipped the script and led the Regis Rangers by 24 at halftime Saturday night in Denver.
Regis outscored FLC 49-28 in the second half to make it a game.
FLC won the game, however, 83-80.
“Regis played excellent in the second half,” FLC assistant coach Bob Pietrack said in a news release. “We were able to gut it out in the end. We had a good defensive stop and a rebound which helped us close the game.”
FLC led 55-31 at halftime and shot 69 percent from the floor in the first half, including 6-of-9 from 3. FLC held Regis to 40-percent shooting, too.
That all changed in the second half.
Regis outscored FLC 39-17 the first 15 minutes of the second half and even took a two-point lead, but the Skyhawks kept their composure and were clutch from the free throw line. They hit 5-of-6 from the line in the final 34 seconds to regain the lead, including 3-of-4 free throws from sharpshooter Nick Tomsick.
Alex Herrera and Tomsick combined for 75 percent of the Skyhawks’ offense.
Herrera scored a career-high 33 points on 13-of-16 shooting. The Ignacio High School alumnus also had 12 rebounds, two steals and a blocked shot that broke his own single-season school record (85) that he set last year.
Tomsick scored 29 points.
The win snapped a four-game skid for the Skyhawks (15-9, 12-8 RMAC) with just two games left on the regular-season schedule – home games next weekend against Western State on Friday and Colorado Mesa on Saturday.
“It was a good team win for us, especially on a four-game road trip. It’s hard to win RMAC road games,” Pietrack said. “We can’t wait to get home to Whalen Gymnasium.”
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