An abysmal shooting night in a game in which Fort Lewis College didn’t get enough calls from the referees resulted in a tough loss Saturday.
The Skyhawks fell victim 83-71 to a tough Chadron State Eagles team in another grueling Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference men’s basketball game played Saturday inside Whalen Gymnasium in Durango.
FLC (10-3, 4-3 RMAC) came out flat one night after a big win against Metro State and trailed 38-24 at halftime after shooting only 7-of-28 from the field, 2-of-13 from 3-point range and 8-of-15 at the foul line in the opening 20 minutes.
The Skyhawks shot 51.6% in the second half and 5-of-10 from 3, but much of it came too late, as the Eagles had built a lead as large as 21 in the second half.
“(Friday) was an emotional game, and we weren’t ready to play tonight, and, ultimately, that’s on the head coach,” FLC head coach Bob Pietrack said. “Really, credit Chadron. I think they played a great game. That was their best game. We didn’t make enough shots. When you miss shots, you don’t have energy. They made a bunch of shots, and it just wasn’t our night.”
Chadron State (3-10, 2-5 RMAC), motivated after a tough three-point loss a night earlier at Adams State, came out with plenty of energy and peppered the Skyhawks with 3-point shooting. The Eagles made 12-of-34 from 3 in the game and shot 43.5% from the field overall.
“We saw the ball go in the hole a little bit more, and usually when you do that, you defend a little bit harder. I think our kids did that tonight,” Chadron State head coach Houston Reed said. “We got some extra good passes and guys hit some big shots. It’s hard to win on the road in the RMAC, so I’m proud of our guys.”
The Eagles were led by 18 points from Brian Rodriguez-Flores, who made four from 3-point range. Michael Sparks added 18 points off the bench.
FLC received 23 points from Riley Farris on 7-of-17 shooting.
“Farris is one of the best players in the league, if not the best player in the league,” Reed said. “We tried to get underneath and make things hard on him. We wanted to make sure he had to earn everything. They let us play in the first half a little bit more in the first half than the second half, so we played more physical in the first half, and that played a part.”
Akuel Kot scored 13 points and had four rebounds and three assists. Brenden Boatwright added nine points and four rebounds in 9:40 of playing time. FLC failed to get big contributions from many of its other key players.
“We took some bad shots and didn’t play our game,” Pietrack said. “We’re not a good enough team if we get out of our structure.”
FLC was frustrated early with a lack of fouls called when the Skyhawks’ forwards would go to the basket and draw contact. Mentally, the Skyhawks never seemed to recover.
“They were tougher than us,” Pietrack said. “They deserved to win the game. It’s hard when you have the same refs two games in a row.”
The Skyhawks were outrebounded 45-38 in the loss.
“We outrebounded Adams State last night by 15 and lost, but we had 19 turnovers,” Reed said. “We turned around tonight and really took care of the basketball.”
Though Farris is the unquestioned scoring leader on the floor, Pietrack said his young team is looking to find more leadership.
“We need more leadership from everybody,” Pietrack said. “I gotta do a better job of doing that, as well. Collectively, we’re gonna try to learn from it. That’s all we can do at this point.”
FLC must regroup in a hurry before a tough road trip to play University of Colorado at Colorado Springs (8-4, 4-3 RMAC) and then Colorado School of Mines (9-5, 5-2 RMAC) next Friday and Saturday, respectively. FLC will stay on the road the following weekend to face rivals Western Colorado (5-8, 2-5 RMAC) and Colorado Mesa (8-5, 4-3 RMAC).
“We’ve got the youngest team in the league. We’re going to have some growing pains, and those are tough to swallow,” Pietrack said. “We got to do a lot better, get focused and be back at it again next Friday in Colorado Springs. It’s a long season to go. Any home loss is tough and stings. We will see where we can improve.
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
