The Skyhawks found themselves somewhere they have yet to be this season: trailing by as many as 14 points for more than 31 minutes in a game. In the end, however, the Fort Lewis College men’s basketball team got the job done, stunning Colorado State University-Pueblo 69-65 in a Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference game Saturday evening in Massari Arena.
FLC trailed 41-28 at halftime but dominated the second half 41-24 to improve to 10-0 overall and 4-0 in the RMAC. CSU Pueblo dipped to 6-4, 2-2.
Akuel Kot scored 27 points to lead FLC, which is one of just 12 undefeated teams.
The FLC women led CSU-Pueblo 13-12 after the first quarter an 27-25 at halftime, but struggled in the third quarter, and the Thunderwolves pulled away to win the game 61-46.
Freshman Lanae Billy scored 21 and grabbed nine rebounds to lead FLC, which slipped to 4-6, 1-3. CSU Pueblo improved to 6-4, 3-1.
The Durango High School girls basketball team won its sixth straight game Saturday, a 50-34 win over Liberty at Pueblo County’s tournament. DHS improved to 6-1 overall with the wins and is now CHSAANow.com’s No. 10 ranked Class 5A team
The Durango boys, however, concluded the Ponderosa tournament with a 62-30 loss to the Far Northeast Warriors of Denver. DHS went 1-2 at the tournament and is now 2-4 overall.
Totaling 99 points Saturday, Bayfield High’s wrestlers – energized after overwhelming Olathe 51-15 in a nonleague dual Friday – placed seventh at Delta’s Panther Invitational.
The Wolverines were led by 113-pounder Payton Montgomery, who pinned two opponents and – after getting pinned by Coal Ridge’s Jessie Richel in the finale – placed second with a 3-1 meet record. Losing only in the winners’ semifinals to Moffat County’s Michael Voloshin, senior Deegan Barnes placed third at 165 by going 4-1.
Going 2-2 with a first-round bye, sophomore Hunter Mars finished fourth at 106 pounds, and freshman Zayden Cundiff went 3-2 and saved fifth at 150 via an 18-3 technical fall over CRHS’ Austin Price. Medically unable to face Alamosa’s Dario Valdez at the end of the tournament, BHS junior Keaton Pickering ended up a sixth-place 2-3 at 126.
Recipient of a medical-forfeit win in his first actual match following a first-round bye at 175, freshman Caelan Ramos ended up placing sixth after having to forfeit his next three matches due to injury. Heavyweight Jordan Cundiff finished 1-2 with a bye, but fell one round short of a top-six billing.
Logan Valencia won twice in four matches at 120 pounds, both via pin, but was also stopped one round short of placing.
Reese Appenzeller (132), Cael Blount (138), Keegan Johnston (144) and Dante Candelaria (157) each went 0-2.
Durango competed at Bloomfield (New Mexico) in the Bobcat Duals and finished 2-3 as a team. DHS beat Kirtland, 41-30, and Grants, 54-12, but fell to Aztec, 39-27 to finish second in its pool and advance to the championship bracket. The Demons then fell to Bloomfield, 47-29, and Farmington 42-36.
Ryan Dugan went 5-0 on the day for DHS, winning four matches at 114 and one at 121.
Chris McGrath also went 5-0 at 150 pounds. McGrath pinned all five of his opponents, and only needed 10 seconds to pin one of them.
Riley Belt wrestled at both 139 and 145 for DHS and finished 4-1 on the day. He won three bouts at 139 and went 1-1 at 145.
James Storm went 3-2 at 160 and Jaylen Jeffries went 3-2 at 172 to also finish the tournament with winning records.
